Why do soldiers salute?

There are several different theories to the answer to your question...
Below you will find a few of them.

According to the United Stated Department of the Army:
www.army.gov

"The salute is an act of recognition between military men (and women). Its origin is in the ancient European custom of free men greeting each other by holding up their right hand to show that they had no arms. Prisoners do not salute; they are denied the privaledge."

According to CLT Sevigny
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/4745/Salute.html

"The hand salute probably originated in the days of chivalry when knights in mail raised their visors to friends for the purpose of identification. Because of strict adherence to rank, the junior was required to make the first gesture to show they were not challenging the senior. Still, another probability as to the originating of a salute comes from the time when assassinations by dagger were not uncommon. It became the custom to approach each other with raised hand, palm to the front, showing that there was no concealed weapon"

According to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salute

The origin of this salute is unknown. One theory is that it came from Roman soldiers' shading their eyes from the intense light that was supposed to shine from the eyes of their superiors (see emission theory of light). Another theory is that it came from when men-at-arms wore armor--a friendly approach would include holding the reins of the horse with the left hand while raising the visor of the helmet with the right, so that one could be recognised. A third theory is that the salute, and the handshake, came from a way of showing that the right hand (the fighting hand) was not concealing a weapon. The naval salute, with the palm downwards, is said to have originated because the palms of naval ratings, particularly deckhands, were often dirty through working with lines. Because it would be insulting to present a dirty palm to an officer, the palm was turned downwards.

Comments

interesting
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by 512souro on May 2nd, 2005
Interesting. There are also "no salute" areas in war zones because it identifies higher ranking officers.
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by Ask_Cham on May 2nd, 2005
well done
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by david askari on May 2nd, 2005
I highly recommend the answer to the question. He/ she answered it in details and it's great that he/she put the references.
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by Anonymous on May 3rd, 2005
Good answer!
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by Astaroth on May 7th, 2005
good to know
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by medeea on May 23rd, 2005
The correct URL for the US Army's official website is www.army.mil , not ".gov"
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by jaywhy on May 31st, 2005
Excellant answer. How could this be rated down?
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by gondola on January 6th, 2006
Good Answer - but the British Soldier will salute palm facing forward, and the British Sailor palm facing down. The US military salute palm down. This has nothing to do with lifting the Visor nor tipping the hat. The salute goes further back into antiquity, but for the difference between palm forward as in the British Army and Air Force, and the Palm down as in the British Navy and US military is that British sailors would have "Dirty Hands" and to salute an officer with dirty hands showing was a sign of great disrespect. So the Navy adopted the palms down so that the sailors could do the customary salute without showing dirty hands. The US military may have continued with this salute throughout its forces to differentiate itself from the British military forces.
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by robroy12 on April 7th, 2011

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Why do soldiers salute?

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