[garbanzo]

Isn’t it typical for military officers to refer to juniors by their rank and superiors by “sir” or “ma’am”?

[barker]

Have had service members address me as ma’am before and loved it. Sounded very respectful while they were answering my questions.

[fredhead]

I don’t know about the other services, but in the Navy, enlisted personnel address junior officers (Lieutenant Commander 0-4 and below) as “sir” and “ma’am” and senior officers (0-5 and above) by their rank, i.e. Commander, Captain, Admiral. One exception is that the Commanding Officer of any ship is addressed as “Captain”, regardless of his rank.

I personally feel that Ms. Boxer should be addressed as “you worthless paper container of execrement.”

[Old Student]

“Isn’t it typical for military officers to refer to juniors by their rank and superiors by “sir” or “ma’am”?”

For some. For others, everyone is “Sir or Ma'am” if they are respected, and addressed by their rank if unknown, or not respected.

Of course, I'm an NCO, not a commissioned officer, and certainly not a general officer! Boxer has her foot in her mouth so far she's got a mustache. Last I checked, “senator” is a job description, and we don't do titles here in America. IIRC, the law making an officer automatically “an officer and a gentleman” was repealed in the ‘70’s as we got more and more female officers.

NCO's have been known to say "Don't call me 'sir', I work for a living" when so addressed, however. ;)

WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)