The Other Way Round
Of course the opposite to promotion whilst retired, is/was the Navy's brutal but probably more honest, formal 'passing over' of officers who didn't make commander by a given seniority.
The individual affected would sometimes organise a bender of monumental proportions (called The Feast of the Passover) and they were released from all sorts in inhibitions, knowing that their career would not be in peril.
There are cases even of officers who, having been passed over, suffered a forfiture of seniority which put them back in the promotion zone and they were picked up the second time round (not anymore though).
Anybody got any experience of this?