Quote Originally Posted by Xmbei View Post
thats not just british, america troops do that as well. The meaning behind it is if you see the back of the hand and the farther down it points, the less loses they have had in war/battle. As they get some loses the salute goes up and up and up until you see the palm of the hand which means they have lost a lot. (military tradition and all)
What crap are you spouting here? the more losses... what the, I dont even...

The picture here clearly shows the two salutes. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...MilitarySalute
American: hand held horizontally perpendicular to face, at a slight angle.
British: Hand held vertically perpendicular to face, showing palm.

/the more you know.