V/R meaning: very respectfully

What V/R stands for

V/R is very respectfully, cut down to fit a reply. The V is very and the R is respectfully. R/ on its own is plain respectfully. Typed at the bottom of a reply, the short form saves fourteen keystrokes.

It sits above the name the way regards or sincerely would in a civilian email. The sign-offs in the jargon dictionary mostly say how warm the writer feels. V/R says where the writer stands.

Who writes V/R and who writes R/

The US Navy’s correspondence manual spells out the rule in its section on formal email. Write “very respectfully” to someone senior in rank to you and “respectfully” to someone junior. Civilians get “sincerely yours” or “with great respect”.

The short forms are for replies. In a reply to a first email, the manual allows V/r and R/, so the opening message carries the words in full.

Mailbox rules beside the sign-off

The same chapter asks users to check their mailboxes at least twice a day. Anyone away for more than three business days must say so in the automatic reply and name a point of contact. Few civilian offices write their out-of-office rules down that plainly, or at all.

The closing rules sit under formal email. Informal email gets three pieces of advice: keep it brief, use good taste, and observe the traditional courtesies. That’s the whole sign-off policy of most civilian offices too.

Formal email, with a serial number

Formal email in the Navy carries the same parts as a paper letter: a filing code, a serial number, a date and the name of whoever holds signing authority. In place of a signature it uses /s/. So a formal reply can end with V/r, then /s/, then a name in capitals and the words “By direction”.

By direction means the writer signs for the head of the command, under authority delegated in writing. Civilian offices have the same arrangement with less paperwork: the assistant who sends the email from the boss’s account.

Closings for every occasion

For personal letters from Navy headquarters, the manual lists closings by reader. Flag officers senior to the signer get very respectfully. Senators, members of Congress and governors get the civilian pair, sincerely yours or with great respect. Condolences, birth announcements and thank-you notes get warm regards. Everyone without a category gets sincerely or all the best.

The manual calls the list suggestions and says it isn’t complete. It’s still more guidance on sign-offs than most companies have written down.

V/R in a civilian inbox

The habit travels with the people who learned it. In a civilian office, V/R reads as a salute at the bottom of a note about printer toner. A recruiter who gets a V/R knows one thing about the sender before reading the CV.

For civilians who want the same tone without the rank, best regards does the job and ranks nobody.

V/R, VR and v/r

Without the slash, VR is virtual reality. Search the two letters and the results fill with headsets and travel apps before any email turns up. Lowercase v/r and V/r are the same sign-off, and the manual itself writes V/r. Nobody wearing a headset is signing emails very respectfully.

Respect, measured by rank

V/R is a sign-off with an org chart built in. Write R/ to someone senior and you’ve demoted them by one letter. Write V/R to someone junior and they will spend the afternoon wondering what you want.

Peers have it hardest. The manual sorts readers into senior and junior only, so two people of the same rank have to decide for themselves. V/R costs one extra letter, which is cheap insurance. The extra courtesy only travels up the chain: the manual never tells a senior officer to sign very respectfully to a junior one.

V/R on a reply-all

On a long thread with mixed ranks, the sign-offs sort the recipients for you. Each reply carries V/R or R/ depending on who it’s aimed at, so the closing line reads like a seating plan. Civilians on the thread write thanks and hope it counts.

A reply signed V/R

Subject: RE: Training room, 14 November

Ma’am, the training room is booked from 0800 to 1600 and the projector has been tested. Lunch counts are due by Wednesday at 1200.

V/R With respect, upward, Sgt. M. Alvarez