Originally Posted by
Manuel de Vol
I handed in my 1250, received a letter thanking me for my service and a pension. - I understand that nowadays, you hand in your 1250, get the letter and a promise of a pension to be paid at some later date ... If the government hasn't spent it.
Actually some scalies used to lose their ID cards some time before they retired.
Now however the new ID card is only valid for 3 years or so, so if you do 'lose' it you would retain its privileges for only a year or so.
As for staying in messes, this was both the Treasury clamping down on precuiary advantage and some people ripping the arse out of the system. I stayed at Carlisle mess before it closed. They were very circumspect as they had been done by a retired gp capt. He didn't say he was retired and he didn't pay hos mes bill before he left. He probably had been a gp capt (or is that libelous of all gp capt in which case I withdraw the inference).