I wonder if they become ordinary people or if the “I’m in charge” aura stays with them? I knew a lady colonel who was still in the reserves and never noticed anything but I just knew her at work not in personal life.
A cousin of mine is a colonel (in civilian life, he’s a cop). When he’s off-duty, he’s pretty laid back.
I knew a couple Captains. One Marine, one Army.
The Marine(my Daddy) acted like a General. We often called him Generalissimo!
One of Daddy’s friends was a Brig. General, after they retired they hung out some. He was very nice, proper gentleman.
I do–and a handful of other ranks. It all boils down to the personality . . .
I currently avoid this one guy who, at every convenience will corner you in a hallway to ‘resume drop’ his CV. Some of his verifiable claims are that he was in the Senior Executive Service (GS-15+, basically civilian equivalents to Generals), and a few hits confirming he was a Lt Col in the AF Reserve. He “decided” to come back to the workforce after “retiring” from the SES, and continued to underwhelm at my company. Eventually he got bounced from his original hiring Department for his inability to connect with anyone (although the misogynistic & racist statements helped) to one of the backwoods-Departments.
I avoid this guy because his CV recitations, caustic nature, his “I’m a 40-year bureaucrat . . . " (with zero engineering skills) '. . . and this is the way to do it,” with no redeemable qualities, and subtle abillity to offend women & people of color left-and-right, makes my blood boil.
I have no idea how this guy made it past the probationary period. Wait, yes I do! 40 years of “playing the game” taught him how to play the game.
Tripler
He’s the only chowderhead I know out of a couple of dozen retired GOs
I do. Haven’t talked to him since his recent retirement but he’s been the same guy from high school throughout his career.
I had a boss who was a USAF colonel who was later promoted to general. We called each other by first names. If I were to bump into him I guess I still would, but it would be kinda weird.
I suppose I must. But on the other hand I retired in 93 and so I suppose most of them are gone now.
Yes, one of my many good fortunes. He was away flying in Vietnam while i was growing up. He is about 10 - 15 years older than me. Before he left the service, i encountered him at family affairs. He was in charge and things went well. After he retired, same, but now on a one-to-one basis.
He is inquisitive and knowledgeable and willing to share. Our visits with him are organized but he asks our wants for them and frequently delights us with tours of his area. He is personable and seems stiff, but is gracious to us and everyone we have encountered on our visits. They trained him well.
That would be interesting, knowing him his whole life.
I do. Or at least I did. He was a retired Brigadier General but was still in some form of reserves. In civilian life, he was my second level supervisor. He carried himself exactly as I would expect a general would. He expected his underlings to do what he said, and if he specified a way to do it, we were best off doing it that way. He was actually more easy going than the retired colonels (one full bird, one light) that I worked with, who seemed a little too eager to let you know they were colonels. Both of them were also in the reserves, and I understand they really wanted to get that star.
I also know two captains that are West Point grads. Both are very disciplined, but don’t really share much about their Army experiences unless asked. They’re not keeping secrets, but they’re not braggarts. One of them I’ve known from middle school (back then we called it Junior High), and he ended up marrying my brother’s ex-girlfriend from high school. Bob was supposedly a Ranger, but you would never know it from his demeanor.
To answer the OP directly, the retired general gave the “I’m in charge” aura. The colonels gave the “I want to be in charge” aura. And the captains gave the “I don’t care as long as I don’t have to put up with any bullshit” aura.
I knew an admiral at my parents’ beachside Florida condo several decades ago. Very quiet and humble.
I knew a retired rear admiral because he ended up working at the State Department. In the Navy, he was the top dog over the Civil Engineer Corps and the Seabees. A decent guy who accomplished a lot in both careers.
Met a retired admiral at a SubVets ceremony a few years ago. He seemed to be a pretty decent guy.
I had two uncles by marriage. One a Rear Admiral, the other an Air Vice Marshall. These are the ranks they retired with, I knew them as they rose from Wing Commander and Commander.
The Air Force one was a doctor, the Navy one was an Engineer. The doctor was very chill outside uniform and extremely beloved in his workplace. A true servant leader, to use a current buzzword. The engineer was very stern and dictatorial. His wife and children were terrified of him.
Apparently their father was a very strict disciplinarian, and was particularly hard on the older guy who became a naval engineer. He was a civil servant in British India. Where apparently caning of clerical and menial subordinates was permitted!
Girl I grew up with is a retired Army two star. One of the guys I was a 2LT with retired a three star. Both quite talented and normal.
I was close friends with a 4 star Admiral’s son while I was in the Navy – we were in Officer Candidate School (boot camp for officers who don’t go through ROTC or the Naval Academy) together. I met his dad a few times after he retired – he was a very low key, decent guy, as far as I could tell. Obviously a very sharp guy too.
I’m currently friends with a handful of O-6s and one recently selected O-7 (1 star Admiral), and while I haven’t spoken to him in many years, an O-9 (3 star Admiral) was a former commanding officer who was a great guy and would probably write a recommendation for me if I asked for one.
I got married in Canada but I had a sort-of wedding banquet in China (where my mother-in-law lived). My late father-in-law was a major (I think?) and there was a colonel (? his boss) and a general at this dinner. The colonel just seemed like a nice older lady but there was definitely quite a bit of deference paid to the general by everyone at the table. I don’t speak any Chinese (and my wife didn’t translate much), so I couldn’t really comment on his personality.
I worked at a gas station in high school, and every evening around 6pm, a frail old man would shuffle by on his evening walk. I usually worked the station alone, but one evening my boss was there when the old man walked by and told me that old man had killed more people than anybody still alive. The next day I looked up Curtis LeMay in the encyclopedia.
I know a couple of retired Colonels, a couple of retired Lt. Colonels, and a gaggle of Captains (O-3) and they’re all pretty chill.
One of the Colonels and one of the Lt. Colonels were both USMC vets and co-workers. The retired COL was kind of intense, but not in a way that makes you think “former Marine Colonel”. He was just an intense sort of guy- I bet he approached everything like that, not just his job.
The other guy was VERY chill. Plays guitar in a band, is generally a laid back sort of guy. Not great with supervisor/customer boundaries; when he left, I took over some of his responsibilities, and part of what I’m having to do is set those boundaries. If anything, I wouldn’t have believed he was in the military at all, much less a Lt. Col in the Marine Corps.
The others are all astonishingly normal. My uncle is the other Lt. Col, and he was a paratrooper (commanded a battalion in the 82nd Airborne in the early 80s). He apparently had a reputation for being hard nosed when he was in, but he’s very laid back and polite now. He does have a sort of calm intensity about him though- he’s very perceptive and paying attention all the time. One of the captains is my best friend from middle/high school, and while the Army made him grow up a bit, it didn’t really fundamentally change him.
Haven’t met any generals or admirals. But the other military officers have all been pretty normal once out.
My mother had a first cousin who married a full bird colonel in the reserves. He was in the quartermaster corps and managed to collect salary for about 90 days of work every year. IRL he owned a jewelry store. He was very interesting and pleasant to talk to. He could trace his ancestry to one of the founders of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, the oldest in Philadelphia.