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by James Rue on May 31st, 2005

James Rue

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When a young man (or woman) is commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, should he be addressed as "2nd Lieutenant Smith", or just "Lieutenant Smith"? And should his mailing address reflect this change in rank?

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Answers. 3 helpful answers below.

  • by Merry Walker on June 6th, 2005

    Merry Walker

    While the military has its own customs regarding usuage and introductions in both social and military settings, civilians are not expected to know them. Generally, in any social setting or conversation, a civilian should address a 2nd Lieutenant simply as "Lieutenant" or "Lieutnant Smith." The only time you would use the "2nd Lieutenant" appellation would be for introductions. If you are attenting a formal military function and want to be sure to follow all the appropriate customs, you'll want to contact the command OMBUDSMAN for details, which can vary by branch of service or type of event.

    For a military mailing address, you always use the complete and correct rank. The best way to make sure you get it right is to have the Lieutenant write it out for you, and then address mail exactly the same way, including all numbers and punctuation.

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  • by Drinking Dano on March 25th, 2006

    Drinking Dano

    Just to add to this, again for the Commonwealth Realms, (Who use the “standard” ranking system) a Second Lieutenant is addressed as “2nd Lieutenant Smith” and *NOT* as “Lieutenant Smith”. While I have never been able to find a reference in the Queen’s Rules and Regulations stating this one way or the other, it simply isn’t done. The ranks of 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant and Captain are all referred to as “Junior Officers” (Although for the most part, Captains are often considered “Honourary Senior Officers”) and as such, may also be referred to as Mister Smith, generally however, this is done by more senior officers and is considered in poor taste for a junior to use this.

    Yet, at the same time, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to a Lieutenant Colonel as “Colonel”. It is also perfectly acceptable to refer to a Lieutenant General (Or any other General rank for that matter) as simply “General”

    To toss in even MORE syllables, the equivalent rank to a 2nd Lieutenant is “Acting Sub-Lieutenant” (Don’t let the “Acting” part of the title fool you, it is an actual qualified rank) and the equivalent of a Lieutenant is a “Sub-Lieutenant”. As such, an Acting Sub-Lieutenant is NOT to be referred to as “Sub-Lieutenant”, which is one of the many reasons the Navy is so fond of referred to its Officers as “Mister Smith” (There are of course many traditions behind this as well)

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  • by RJTRIES on February 16th, 2006

    RJTRIES

    When addressing an LT, you just use the term Lieutenant, introductions at formal ceremonies always use the full rank of the individual---2Lt of 1Lt. Mailing addresses should use full rank

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