tbritt,
Perhaps you are correct, I may have been to critical of the gentlemen. I don’t really know how he preforms his duties while on watch. For that I apoligize.
I was however rather surprised at the cavalier way that he referred to his position, while at the same to asking the public-at-large how to address his superior officers. Those men who he is concerned about speaking to have spent years of hard work and time away from their loved ones to attain the position that which they hold, and should be treated as such. Any mariner that is trying to be professional should take the time to sit back and learn the way things are done. I am sure that if he had referred to all of his superiors as Sir, or Mam until he was aware of the proper and accepted way to address them, this post would be unnecessary.