Ark


:ok: :ok:

It is just some Turds are bigger than others it would seem!

One wonders how many "spoof" call-ups have gone out to those on reserve commitments?:mad:

Peregrine, try the Fur, Feather, Fin website:

Lord, Lady, General, Air Marshal etc :)

The use of former military rank (Sqn Ldr and above as far as the RAF was concerned) as a title was quite normal in the 1960s. Even the local ironmonger in the little town near where I'd grown up would greet his customers using their rank!

But then came 'The troubles' and we were all actively discouraged from displaying or presenting any association with the armed forces when in public - except for parades etc. We all became 'Mr' and had to skulk into work wearing some civilian coat over our uniforms etc.......and to adopt 'sharkwatch' policies.

So it's hardly surprising that the correct use of former military rank is now quite rare.

Four Types, the clue is in the title; you are an ex-serviceman now. A civilian, a strawberry mivvy, the great unwashed. Get over it!

So it's hardly surprising that the correct use of former military rank is now quite rare. - BEagle

I applaud the emphasis on"correct".:ok: In a different sense, I suspect that it would be very revealing if posters on this forum were obliged to provide their "correct" rank, or indeed the lack of it!:hmm:

Jack

Almost correct...
 

This is almost correct, but oddly the deviations move in two directions. While under certain circumstances honorably discharged veterans retain some access for 24 months, in general veterans do not receive lifetime access. Retirees do.

Recreation facilities are actually open to the general public provided one applies for and receives a base access pass, after a reasonably thorough background check. The base golf course with its expensive restaurant needs all the customers it can get! (Side note, our base recreation facilities now have to generate enough income to cover their own expenses or they are quickly shut down.)

As I read through this thread, I now understand Agatha Christie's character Captain Hastings...

So, should I expect to be addressed as "lef-tenant colonel" or "loo-tenant colonel" when I emigrate* and claim Debrett's says it's OK? :) Perhaps I'll stick with 'Terry'; no one at the BGA clubs I've flown with seemed to care about anything other than my ability to get their glider(s) safely back on the ground!

*I don't really want to emigrate, but I would love to find a US Department of Defense job in the UK for a few years. Maybe by then the Air Cadet gliders will be back in service and I could be a civilian instructor (?), but that's a topic for a different thread. I am a member of our Civil Air Patrol here.

Terry


PS I've just discovered Foyle's War on Netflix, so speaking of titles, why are Deputy Chief Inspector Foyle and Sergeant Milner often addressed as "Mr."? That never happens on Morse or Lewis... I'm so confused!

Thread drift but Foyle is Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle.

My police-person [used to be policewoman] daughter says "detective-anything is often seen as being senior to officer-anything of the same nominal rank". Thus Milner has been known to be addressed as "sir" by a uniformed police sergeant.

I left a while ago, whilst still in the mob, I gave the odd duty free bottle to a civvie in stores as a thank you for his good service (He had a reputation as a miserable jobsworth). When I left to join another flying club, I handed my kit in and was pleasantly surprised to find that he insisted on handling my kit return. It went very smoothly and I still have my watch.

Treat everybody as you would like to be treated, you never know what is in the future.

Senior Officers who garner respect from their troops never need to to use their rank on retirement, we all know the good ones, the bad ones will insist on using it.

If I may explain to you.

Only those who have retired (min requirement 20 years of service) get that access to the base as a retirement benefit. Simply having served does NOT permit that. So, your two examples were NOT correct.

@Thomas Coupling TC, that badly veiled insult wasn't well played.

As to what the has beens get up to ...

I've been out now just over 10 years, on my third job since, and have been challenged in new directions. Now that both kids are in their early 20's, the missus and I have very much rekindled the romantic evenings together that we used to enjoy when I wore a flight suit. One night she asked if it still fit ... nostalgia .. and oops, I need to drop a few pounds ... so maybe I should for her sake.

I still occasionally sign with my name & CDR, USN(Ret) on some documents, in particular anything I send in a letter to a congressman or senator. Mostly I just go by my name. It's what my parents gave to me, and has worked so far.

ditto, except replace congressman or senator, with a member of parliament/town councilor. Works a treat IMO.

ditto, except replace congressman or senator, with a member of parliament/town councilor. Works a treat IMO.

The Old Fat One
CDR, USN(Ret)

It certainly does :ok:

Jack

I once bumped into a recently retired 2* who had been my sqn cdr and later my staish. I was still serving and naturally addressed him as 'sir'. He replied he was now retired and his friends called him David. I was then a chief tech, hardly mates with 2* officers, but that was the man he was. He was a leader, the type one confidently would follow 'over the top'.

We're at post 92, and nobody's mentioned it; shouldn't bu**ar be spelt (or spelled) Bu**Er?

Bursar????

Nice site -if a tad pricy compared to Bob Parratt! Sadly, still lacking in the appropriate prenominals for one such as myself :(

Union Jack

"I suspect that it would be very revealing if posters on this forum were obliged to provide their "correct" rank, or indeed the lack of it!"

OK. You go first.

Cardinal Fang - fetch...the comfy chair!

A nice try, Exuw, and I'm surprised that it took so long for you to ask.

Fortunately for me, and many others no doubt, there is no such obligation, so you will barely have had time to settle in that comfy chair before discovering that I have absolutely no intention of humouring you!:ok:

Jack

You've never watched Monty Python, have you?

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D