Why do some soldiers salute with they palms parallel to the ground and others tilted up?

Question

I have seen soldiers in some countries do it with their index fingers by the brow but palms facing the other soldier or index on brow and pinky facing the other soldier... Why are there two different types? Do they each mean something?

I was once told that if your country lost a war then you do the one with the palm facing the other soldier... That sounds dumb to me so what is the real reason?

Answer 1

The history of the salute dates back to medieval times when knights wore helmets with visors. When 2 knights approached each other, they used their right hand (usually their weapon hand) to show they didn't have a weapon, and raised their visor to show they were friends. (reported this way in USAF history)

Different countries just interpret the movement differently. In the US (my interpretation now), we do it the way we do partially because we think it look more ceremonial. And I guess maybe because we assume that is the way we'd push the visor up. I think some countries do it palm out to more show the "lack" of weapon more than the raising of the visor.

MSgt, USAF

Answer 2

Each salute is different as stated before, I have noticed European countries tend to have the palm forward salute vs the palm flat one. and the Americas it is the opposite, possibly a kinda military "up yours" in a way, reminding them that the americas are indipendent, but thats a guess and probably only partial true.

How ever the one I do know about is the naval salute, pinky down palm in, comes from old naval traditions, it was considered impolite and disrespectful to salute with a dirty hand. The old naval ropes however were coated in tar so the palms of the hand would look dirty all the time, so they inverted the standard salute so they would not show how dirty or blackened their hands had become.

Answer 3

Same reason some armies goose-step and others walk like reasonable human beings-tradition. All the militaries of the world have very specific rules about how to stand at attention, march, and salute. There is no reason to think that they would all do it the same.

As far as: "I was once told that if your country lost a war then you do the one with the palm facing the other soldier." whoever told you that may have thought that because frenchies salute that way, and they always surrender, whereas Americans salute properly.

Answer 4

In the Navy we salute with our pinky end down a little. If you ask why, most of the time you get the answer its because the Navy is the only branch to have not lost a war. I dont know the real answer.

Answer 5

It just depends on the army in question. British, Australian and most commonwealth forces salute with the palm facing outwards. The Americans salute with the palm down.

The origin of it was really to show your superior that you were unarmed as a mark of respect. (Dates back to the old back stabbin' Roman times).

Answer 6

The Salute as we know it today is from the Maritime Tradition of tipping the cap to show respect or honor to another.
That is the origin of the modern Salute.
Salute is from the word Salutation. Which is from some other word that is Greek or Latin.
http://www.boat-links.com/index.html

Answer 7

each country has there way of saluting ,in Mexico and in Germany it was the roman salute

some times the different armed forces have different salutes as well

Answer 8

Silver Ice ... Yes, as stated in the first answer, each country has their unique and long-standing traditions. This accounts for the different styles of saluting.

See the link below for additional info.

Answer 9

We should salute the same way the Brits do with palm out we cant say we haven't lost a war and we cant say we are not going to loose this one neither...