As a civilian Met Man, I found the handing in my various passes and "whatever my civvy RAF-style ID was called" was emasculating.
Interestingly [I hope] I belonged to a group of like-minded RAF and Army officers who all retired within a year or so of me. On our get-togethers, we first said that "nothing short of £100,000 cash down, plus salary, would get us back in harness for a year". Next year we said "nothing would get us back!"
Nearly 18 years away from it, pension is good, and days are full. BBQ to dust off soon.