Salute your support pictures via flickr

Whether you are a relative of a serving solider, a veteran who has served with the forces or you would just like to show your support for the men and women serving our country, why not share pictures with other supporters?

An Armed Forces Day group for the National event in Cardiff is up and running on the photo-sharing site flickr.

The group is here: Salute your support for Armed Forces Day

To join, you will already need to be a member of Flickr, or sign up - it's free.

To show your support, make sure you tag your pictures on flickr with "ArmedForcesDay" and make sure they are within the Armed Forces Day group with the "public" box ticked.

If you add your photos to our group, you are giving us permission to republish it, royalty-free. The copyright will remain with you.

The origins of saluting

It appears there are a number of origins of the military greeting of saluting. In the age of chivalry the knights were mounted and wore steel armour, which covered the body completely. When two friendly knights met, it was the custom for each to raise the visor and expose his face to the view of the other. A perceived trespasser needed to act first. This was always done with the right hand, the left being used to hold the reins. It was a significant gesture of friendship and confidence, since it exposed the features and also removed the right hand from the vicinity of a weapon (sword). Also in ancient times the freemen of Europe were allowed to carry arms. When two freemen met, each would raise his right hand to show that he held no weapons in it and that the meeting was friendly.

Saluting in a form can also be traced back to at least the Roman Empire possibly developing from the simple act of shielding eyes from the sun to view another person approaching

Regardless of its origin, the salute is a symbol of greeting, of mutual respect, trust and confidence initiated by the junior in rank, with no loss of dignity on either side. It is also a sign of loyalty and respect to the Service of which a member forms part and the general tone and spirit of the Service is indicated by the manner in which servicemen and women offer the salute and officers return it.

The Armed Services salute is to the Crown, to the commission held by an officer rather than the individual.

The Royal Navy, the senior service, salute differs from the other two services in that the palm of the hand faces down towards the shoulder. This dates back to the days of sailing ships, when tar and pitch were used to seal the timber from seawater. It was considered most undignified to present a dirty palm to the crown, so the hand was turned through 90 degrees.

Another quirk of the saluting process is that a salute may not be given unless a soldier is wearing his regimental headdress or peaked cap. If a soldier or officer is not wearing headdress then he/she must come to attention instead to give/return the salute. The Blues and Royals have the privilege to salute without headdress.

The British Army's salute is given with the right hand palm facing forwards with the fingers almost touching the eye. The RAF salute is essentially the same as that of the Army. When RAF personnel hand salute they display an open hand, positioned such that the finger tips almost, but not quite, touch the hat band.

ID: 82 Revised: 27/4/2010