Military Salute Essay

Why does the military salute? To preserve history, senior leaders must uphold, teach, and pass down heritage and time honored traditions because it is the fabric of the military today. This paper will cover the history of military salutes, its evolution, and the effects on the military today.
The salute is a tradition that dates back many centuries. There are two types of salutes used by the military today. The hand salute and the gun salute. There seems to be no true origin of the hand salute and it leads to a lot of speculation of how this gesture came about. Forms of the hand salute traces back to Roman and Medieval Times. During Roman times when assassinations were widespread and common, to see a public official, a citizen would
Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, gun salutes were a universal custom used to exhibit nonviolent intentions by making a weapon ineffective. In the seventeenth century, the British used a 21-gun salute as a personal salute to the royal family, while the United States did a national salute, firing one gun for each state in the union, until 21 shots was standardized in 1841. The national salute also extended to other countries when naval ships were visiting foreign ports. On a suggestion made by the British, the United States formally adopted the 21-gun salute on August 18, 1875. It was the number of gun salutes already used by many other nations. Then there was the three-volley salute. This salute honored fallen service members. Tracing back to the first wars that used guns, a cease-fire among the parties at war allowed each side to collect their fallen and wounded comrades from the field. The three volley shots would indicate that the fallen and wounded were cleared, properly taken care of, and fighting could resume. The origin and history of hand and gun salutes is a very interesting but one thing about history is that it is constantly changing and evolving. This leads into a discussion on how military salutes have evolved over
The National Salute, done on Independence Day, holds the tradition of 50 rounds, one round for each state of the union. The Salute to the Nation, done on the Fourth of July and President’s Day consists of the 21-gun salute. In addition, a gun salute is given to honor of a host of dignitaries to include the U.S. President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, Secretaries and Chiefs of military services, and admirals to name a few. The three-volley salute remains the same in the event of a service member’s death. However, a U.S. Presidential death involves a 21-gun salute the day after the death, a 21-minute salute on the day of burial, and a 50-gun salute, also on the day of burial representing each state. As shown, the military salute has evolved over time, which leads into a discussion on how those changes has had an effect on the