Originally Posted by
Just This Once...
The RN used to have a more expansive up/out policy than the Army and RAF. The forced retirement option is already in QRs and was regularly exercised at 2-star level and more recently at 1-star level.
That is a tri-service thing, not just RN, and used at 1* by the RAF quite frequently over recent years. RAF Manning has examined expanding the scope to OF5s but I’ve not heard anything on that for a couple of years. Second career prospects for a late-40s gp capt probably aren’t as good as for someone leaving at their 20/40 pension point, so there would be quite a lot of risk in sticking with the service at the mid-career point. If the terms of service are changed, introducing a way of stepping directly across to sqn ldr PAS at the equivalent pay point would offer an attractive (to some) safety net for use if their career thrust stalls.