That's Chief Rice to You

At my approach during a mildly chaotic "clean up" time toward the end of a class period, one of my students, a tall, strong, intelligent, and intensely self-confident young woman, came to a slouching stand from the desk top upon which she was seated.
"At Ease, Cadet," she said, lifting two fingers to her forehead in what appeared to be an exceptionally sloppy Cub Scout salute.

I took the easy shot.

"Excuse me, I am a retired Chief Master Sergeant of the United States Air Force, not a 'cadet.' To call me such is an insult." Of course, my voice was clean, low and even and my face that of, well, an angry but well-disciplined Chief Master Sergeant of the United States Air Force. She shifted and moved into the young-teen defense mode and backed off, her body language shouting an unspoken, "Whatever."

"Damn," another student said, "where did that come from? That was cool."

Another student took up my cause. "Hey, you see those stripes up there on the wall, you know what they mean?"

Three students near the now sulking offender asked me if I could "show them some military stuff." I offered to show them how to come to attention and I asked the Cub (or, I suppose, Girl) Scout if she wanted to learn how. She wasn't interested.

At the end of the short lesson I turned to go back to the front of the room to prepare to release the class. She gave me a parting half salute and called me, of all things, a lieutenant.

I spun around. "That is perhaps the most insulting name anyone could call a senior non-commissioned officer." To which she replied, "Whatever, I don't know anything about the military, I don't even care about it."

"Then," I said, "Stop posing."

To be honest, I wasn't truly insulted. Of course she didn't know anything about the military and, if you'll reference my "Grown Children" blog, you'll know I do not hold any of them truly accountable for minor social missteps. Indeed, one must be careful with this age group. They are tough to others but tender to themselves. They have not yet internalized the grown-up maxim, "Don't dish it if you can't take it."

Still, I am a teacher and they have to start learning sometime.