Hi all
I was wondering if it is customary or regulation that a room is brought to attention for SNCOs. Can anyone advise me on this? My Squadron does it for all officers (obviously) and SNCO (ATC) but I can’t find any reference in the regs for compliments to anyone other than officers
At my Squadron, the whole room is brought to attention when: Officers, SNCOs and Cadet NCOs enter the room. Although it is a sign of respect for the room come to attention, it is pretty pointless in my opinion for Cadet NCOs to have these compliments.
How can you bring a room to attention?
Not pedantic at all…
With the command: ‘Room Shun!’ 
Not one bit. If you are doing drill in a large room, what do you bring to attention? How does one sit “at attention”?
Well if you’re doing drill in a large room then you’d bring the parade to attention. Unless of course you do drill sitting down…
I’m merely asking if all cadets are seated then would they be brought to attention (sat up) for SNCOs as well as officers?
I consider it to be a form of compliment and therefore not appropriate for WO/SNCO staff or cadets.
It is also just conceivable that the class may actually want to get on and do something without bracing up for every random Joe who pops in or wanders by.
it is customary with our Sqn that any one senior entering a (class)room will be recieved by the senior bod in the room (prior to the new entry) with “room 'shun” and all brace up.
Cadets for Cpls,
Cpls for Sgts, etc
Cdt NCOs for Staff
SNCO (ATC) for VR(T)
any staff member “popping their head in” or passing through is not offered the compliment unless they wish to address the class rather than just the instructor
If you wish for the “room to be bought to attention” Your suppose to say “Ladies & Gentleman” which means stand to attention or if your sitting assume the braced position (This doesn’t mean head between legs)
We do this for all Officer/SNCO’s - It’s not just a sign of respect it’s right I’m in the room and I have something to say- instant attention grabber
“Siiit-UP!”
Seems to be a favourite in my experience.
Room sit-up was in my experience always how a room was brought to attention (assuming everyone was seated or supposed to be seated). If everyone was standing/supposed to be standing the command shun was used. This applied on basics to every JNCO or above, beyond basics on the sqn it was relaxed to only include the sqn commander (or DSC in his absence) or above, and then it only applied when seated for a briefing in the lecture room.
I keep hearing this everytime someone comes back from ATF.
The thing is, there is nothing anywhere which states that we are “supposed” to say anything.
Using ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ at ATF is a logical choice. We’re all SNCOs/WO/Officers and therefore L&G is a perfectly appropriate courtesy, as it is also in a station breifing etc.
Now, I might use L&G with a cadet NCO course/cadre however I think it far more common (and personally I think more appropriate) for a room of cadets to be told “Sit up!”. Sit up seems to be the norm during basic training in most services, I hear.
I’ve always had that courtesy extended to whichever staff are taking the lesson. We only recognise the arrival of senior staff during a lesson if they’re coming to formally address the group. No point in interupting lessons everytime a member of staff walks through the main hall.
We haphazardly use “Room-SHUN”, used for anyone above the highest rank in the room entering (and then called by the highest rank in the room).
We had to stop using it as much because we had one NCO who would use it every 5 minutes to make all the cadets fall silent, and it became more annoying than it was worth!
In our wing we are told to use Room-Shun at the NCO courses. We usually use it for staff and if there are no cadet NCO’s in the room sometimes a cadet will say it when one comes in. Rarely would we use it for other cadet NCO’s.
We use ‘Room, Room, SHUN’. We always do it for Officers but never Adult NCO’s or cadet NCO’s.
yup, what Mac said.
How can you bring an inanimate object (Room) to attention.
Ladies & Gentlemen or Sit up
A room is not an object. It is any distinguishable space within a structure. The structure would be inanimate. Not the room itself.
If you’re going to try and be pedantic make sure you know what you’re talking about…
[quote=“axl” post=3591]A room is not an object. It is any distinguishable space within a structure. The structure would be inanimate. Not the room itself.
If you’re going to try and be pedantic make sure you know what you’re talking about…[/quote]
So, how do you bring space within a structure to attention? Surely it’s the occupants which you need at attention and not the distinguishable space?