Quote:
SeaKing
This was the standard aboard a US ship at least until early 2000s when I left. Yes there could be exceptions. You might say to the Captain (Navy) "Yes Ma'am" on some occasions or if that was what they required but formally it was "Yes Sir! even if they were a female dolphin dressed in the Uniform.
Admirals were likely to accept "Yes, God!" on a very casual occasion.
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(new bold above)
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Interesting. It's been over 40 years since I was in the Army, but we always addressed female officers as 'Ma'am'.
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I am sure that you did what was expected where you were.
I did the same where I was.
Aside. Yeah, there was arguments (back and forth in the ranks) in the old days about "Miss," "Ms," "Madam," or "Ma'am," or "Sir" and whether an Officer with the rank of Captain (that is Col in the Army) or Admiral should "always" be addressed as "Sir" and other female officers as "Ma'am." But the truth was I was aboard fighting ships and we didn't have a lot of females for a long time, and the ones that did pop up from time to time were generally crusty old salts or really hard nosed young barracudas who wanted you to see only the uniform and were more interested in blending in with the other ranking officers than doing a women's lib thing.
They liked the "Sir" and if they didn't we called them exactly what they wanted with a snappy salute and a quick jump to.
That was the real discipline. I indicated as much up above.
I was born and raised in the South near the coast, and it was as natural as breathing to call ladies "Ma,am" but I learned to find out what was expected before I met a new female officer and if I couldn't I would say "Sir" and watch for the reaction.