Not thinking about retired or reserve. Thinking about someone who did, say, 8 years as enlisted, attained the rank of Staff Sergeant, and then decided not to reenlist at the end of the term. Honorable discharge, nothing fishy about it.
Is it “improper” to refer to that person as Sergeant anymore, or is he/she just Mr./Ms.?
What is the occasion? What is the medium for the address (orally in conversation? Written on a program or invitation, etc.), and what is the relationship of the veteran to those present? Is it business? Ceremony? Social?
I’d call it improper. Once they take off the uniform, they’re no longer soldiers (or whatever), and if they aren’t soldiers they can’t have ranks. It’s like calling a divorced women “Mrs.”, or calling an orphan “Jr.”
Back when he was a soldier he may have been a sergeant, but now he’s a civilian, and civilians are all the same rank.
Generally it is improper. If the veteran works for a military contractor, it might be unlawful. If the occasion is some kind of veteran’s ceremony it might be proper to put rank after their name as opposed to in front of it, which is how the government does it at Veteran’s ceremonies for Senators and such. Something like, “SSG Smith, USMC, Retired” for a retiree and “Mr. Smith, SSG, USMC” for a Veteran.
But otherwise, almost always, their rank is gone. Better to simply write something like, “Mr. Smith, a former SSG in the US Army, yada yada yada…”
Just addressing someone informally at the office, or at a bar? Doesn’t really matter, but no it isn’t proper.
In Commonwealth armies, ranks of Major and above can be used even after retirement.
One of the punishments of being cashiered; you lose the right to do so.
This has pretty much changed. I’ve stuck with Jr. professionally and socially even though my father is deceased. In fact, it is not uncommon I am told my name must match my birth certificate which includes Jr. I keep everything the same for convenience and most Jrs (or 3rds) I know do the same.
And I thought for the US it was Colonel and above. A retired General or Admiral is still often refered to by their highest rank and it use to include Colonels, but I can’t remember the last time I heard a retired Colonel refered to by their rank.
The other exception to the rule are Chiefs and Sgts occasionally at VFWs. Especially if they are among the oldest vets. Lets say WWII or Korean War these days.
Picking nits, OP specifically excluded retirement.
My understanding tracks Bear_Nenno’s. As hard-and-fast as matters of custom and etiquette are (i.e., not very), you’re no longer referred to by retirement rank* once you leave the service, unless you’re retiring. Retirement conveys the customary privilege of being referred to by your rank in appropriate settings. F’rinstance, if I’m down at the base fiddling with my retired pay, the (very young) NCO at the desk calls me up by “MSgt Gnoitall”, just like she would have 15 years ago when I dressed funny and wore combat boots to work.
*At least in the US DoD, this is a real thing. DD Form 2 (Retired ID Card) has a block “Rank/Pay Grade” which reflects the rank at which you retired, based on your retirement orders. It’s a legit piece of HR metadata in the DoD world. And a non-retiree veteran has no such metadata, because the DoD doesn’t have anything to do with them. The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t put rank information on Veterans ID cards.
Apart from retirement, generally no.
Friends might call him “Sarge” but nope, no ranks.
I know alot of people who I consider rank;)…
But seriously my Daddy was ‘Sarge’ to his friends and some family til he died. Alot of his correspondence was addressed to 'MSgt. Name (ret.)
Sigh.
I work with a lot of retired and separated military people. We don’t call the them by their rank.
So sorry. My Daddy considered himself a Marine always a Marine, first. But I get the retired part.
Didn’t stop this guy.
(No seriously, even if you have no legal right to do so, was it ever common for British officers below Major to use their army ranks?)
The only person who ever called me Chief was a gate guard at the AFB in Anchorage when I was working for a contractor; he was just being friendly. So retirement is no different from than ordinary separation from service, at least for everyone other than very senior officers.
Marines are different. I am a former Army sergeant. But in my experience, there ain’t no such thing as a ‘former’ Marine.
I think people did use their Army ranks in civvie street, however* formally* only Major and above could use it. For instance Clement Attlee was known as Major Attlee for most of the period between leaving the Army in 1919 and becoming PM. For instance.
Again, Commonwealth militaries are different. If you add “former” Such and Such to a rank, like saying former Lt Col, that means the individual in question was dismissed from service.
Hmm. Poirot’s companion in the Agatha Christie stories, a World War I vet, was always referred to as “Captain Hastings”: Arthur Hastings - Wikipedia
A friend of mine, an older lawyer who was an Army Natl. Guard JAG officer, retired as a bird colonel, and I still call him “Colonel” as a courtesy.
The OP states “…8 years as enlisted, attained the rank of Staff Sergeant, and then decided not to reenlist at the end of the term. Honorable discharge, nothing fishy about it.”
This would very accuratly describe me and several of my friends, and none of us would ask or expect to be addressed by any military rank, in any situation, personal, social, or professional. It just isn’t done.
It may happen somewhere like an American Leigon or VFW hall, or maybe when dealing with the Veterans Administration, and I leave that to others, as I have no experience in those areas.
You’ll get an argument on that if you introduce someone as an “ex-Marine”. They prefer “former Marine”. I always opted for “John was in the Marine Corps.”