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Origin of Salute

Saluting is one of the most common and basic forms of military courtesy. It is basically an exchange of greetings between military and/or uniformed service personnal.

The history of saluting has many pausible origins. Some believe that during the "Age of Chivalry" when two knights met, the raised their visors to expose their faces. This allowed the knights to recognise their allies from their enemies. The raising of visor always performed with the right hand. During the "Middle Ages", men wore heavy capes to conceal their swords. When two men greeted each other they would raise their right arm to show that it was not on the sword hilt. Greeting someone without raising your right arm could potentially mean that you were about to attack. During the days of the Borgians, assassination by using knife or dagger was common. When greeting someone the right hand was raised to show that the person was not concealing a dagger.

Saluting with the open hand indicated friendly intentions and can be traced back to the middle ages where travellers also held their open hands up inorder to indicate that they had no weapons in their possession capable of injuring others. It also dated back several hundred years to the days when fighting men wore armour. Thus, when outside the safety of walled castle, people often had to defend themselve. Therefore, as the knight rode through the forest, he rode with his hand near his sword. When he met someone he recognised as a friend, he raised his empty hand to show he was not challenging the person. This action was a sign of trust and respect. The present day salute is a symbol of greeting, of mutual trust and confidence, initiated by the junior in rank, but with no loss of dignity on either side.

There are other forms of salutes beside the hand salute such as the sword salute, gun salute and rifle salute. As these salutes signify gesture of friendship and comradeship.