Regardless of the rights and wrongs of being denied access [or access being more trouble than its worth]: the first day of retirement is the first day outside the magic circle, and yes, it does hurt.
Even for this civvy more or less permanently attached, with a slack handful of passes and almost every clearance known to mortal man, giving it all up caused many a pang. I miss the RAF more than I miss the Met. Office, for sure.
Hence my pathetic maunderings and mumblings on this forum!