"What does that mean exactly?"

In 1968, we decorated the Christmas tree in our dorm with enlisted-rank insignia and other uniform patches. (Don Dale photo)

My friend Walter, whom I have known for more than four decades, has asked about some of the military terms I've been using. Here's a question he asked after he read my moon-landing posts:

"Tom had been an enlisted man, now he's an officer. What does that mean exactly? Are officers people who usually did NOT enlist?"

Actually, USAF officers do not enlist. An officer is commissioned by Congress. By contrast, those in the enlisted ranks do ... um ... enlist. An enlisted man with a good performance rating can apply to be an officer. It's not commonplace, but it happens. Lt. Tom Scanlan was one of those, I believe. They're known in military slang as mustangs.

Non-commissioned officers, or NCOs, are those with the enlisted rank of staff sergeant and above. They are "officers" but without commissions, thus they're non-commissioned officers.

If they're both outdoors, an enlisted man (including NCOs) must salute any officer he directly encounters. Salutes are also required under other special circumstances, for example when officially reporting indoors to a commanding officer. Enlisted men salute all officers. Officers salute other officers who outrank them. Enlisted men also use "Sir" when addressing an officer, and officers do the same for other officers who outrank them.

You can see a listing of all ranks, officers and enlisted men, in the USAF today by clicking here. (The lowest ranks had slightly different designations in the late 1960s when I was in uniform.)

Further, Walter asked: "Why are there Officers' Clubs and NCO Clubs? Is there an enlisted man's club? What is that called?"

I never served on a base that did not have both an Officers Club and an NCO Club. It would seem to be too discriminatory not to have both. Bitburg AB, but not Spangdahlem, also had an EM Club for enlisted men, although in most cases any enlisted man could use the NCO Club. The Bitburg EM Club opened while I was there, and the brass made a big deal of what they were doing for the lower ranks. I spent a lot of time there and enjoyed the place.

The EM Club was nicknamed "The Office." Somebody thought it would make a good answer, I suppose, to the wife at home who called to ask where her husband was: "I'm at the office, dear." In any event, it was the liveliest military club I've ever seen. Good music. Good prices. Good food. Good beer (both American beer and German beer; Bitburger Pils was the top choice).

I've only been in an Officers Club once, other than in the course of rare military duties, and that was as the guest of an old friend. Bill Souder and I were in the same class at Hermitage High School and went on to the University of Richmond together. Bill had always been interested in flying. He earned his pilot license while he was still at Hermitage, and on graduation day, he took me and another friend for a ride in a single-engine plane out of a little airport in Hanover County. It was my first flight.

Bill joined the Air Force before I did, earned a commission and was learning how to pilot a fighter jet when we met up while I was in basic medical training school in Texas. He took me to the Officers Club for drinks and dinner. It was more formal than the NCO Club, but I enjoyed the experience. Needless to say, I wore civilian clothes to the Officers Club. In uniform, I'd have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Bill later died when his fighter was shot down over the South China Sea during the Vietnam War. He was one of a handful of good friends who died in that war.

And then Walter asked: "Why is there air? What's the meaning of life?"

I can't find an answer to either of these questions in my old Air Force manuals. The brass probably didn't think enlisted men needed to know.