The plural is "gentlemen"

In the Army, higher ranking officers are addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am." This is one of the first things you learn.

But what about when you're talking to two of them? And what do you say when you're referring to someone in the third person?

When dealing with enlisted soldiers who've never worked around officers, I've noticed there are two tendencies that need to be corrected.

First is people referring to me as "the sir." Because it's considered rude to address me as "Lieutenant," rather than "Sir," they think that it's better to say "the sir said X" rather than "the lieutenant said X." The latter is correct.

Second is when people refer to two male officers as "Sirs." In that situation, the plural is "gentlemen," and it's important to understand why: if the plural for "sir" were "sirs," what would the plural for "ma'am" be?

That could make for a very awkward situation.