Whats the origin of the online expresion salute?

For me this originated back in the days of early 3d flightsims simply because you and your friends were in a clan or similar and you didnt say hello, you said ~S~ or S! or some derivative. a civillian light hearted nod at how they communicate in the military. When i shot someone down i always said " lol ". It's not cool to salute the enemy when you can wind them up instead !.