Operational awareness – saluting staff cars

***image1***One military custom and courtesy that sometimes gets lost in the ops tempo and relatively large traffic flow at Ramstein is saluting staff cars.  It is a challenge as a staff car may be a BMW or Audi with rank on the front plate. To add to the challenge, the staff cars on Ramstein have changed a bit over the last few months. The wing commanders drive staff cars with white tops and rank on their front plate.  Group commanders have new dark blue Chevrolet Malibus with the colonel eagle on the front plate. This is not all-inclusive as distinguished visitors of any service may be traveling in command vehicles of various types. No matter what style or color of the car, or the amount of traffic on the road, all military members have the responsibility to salute officers in staff vehicles as a form of respect to the officer. The best thing to do is to be aware of your surroundings and the front plate of vehicles when walking outside. 

So when out and about on Ramstein, practice good operational awareness.  Keep an eye out and don’t let that silver eagle or stars on the license plate get by you without rendering a proper salute.