You’re not clear who did what? Sorry, I’m not feeling great, couldn’t parse what you meant there.
I’m not clear that Captain Hastings ever referred to himself as Captain Hastings.
But it’s been a while since I read any of the books.
Okay, I’m obviously missing something here… what’s the difference between “retired” and “served 8 years and decided not to re-enlist?”
The main difference is you don’t get retirement pay if you don’t serve at least 20 years.
You still get to shop at the Exchange, you still get to stay on base, or at the resorts, you still get preference for transport… you still are the kind of person who /wanted/ to be in the military, not the kind of person who couldn’t wait to get out.
I’d go with the main difference in the US being that you are still legally theirs. They can call you back involuntarily. Retirees are also technically still under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice.) It’s rare to call someone back from retirement for UCMJ offenses. It’s a real thing and sometimes happens in high profile cases that reflect badly on the service.
Under some circumstances, non-retirees can be called back to service. I understand this happened with my father. I never asked him about the details, but he was in the AAC during WWII, got out, and was called back to the Air Force for the Korean War. I think it was only those who had been let go before their initial enlistment was up that could be called back. At any rate, he decided to stay in and ended up retiring as an E-8.
DP
Under a lot of circumstances non-retirees can be called back into the Service. While it doesn’t happen very often, if certainly can.
Most people think they are enlisting for four years for example. But they are really enlisting for eight. The four years active duty that they are aware of, but there is generally another four years of reserve duty that they just wave away. 99.9% of the time that’s fine and you don’t have to do anything (although you’re technically supposed to answer the mail and update your address). But the military has the ability to bring you back during that time.
There is a difference between what you desrcibe. ‘Retired’ = “retired”; ‘served 8 years and decided not to re-enlist’ = “seperated”. The difference between the two has to do with benefits, and some of the strings that are attached to those benefits (discussed upthread). The big difference, is that retirees get the montly retirement paycheck, and a military ID card stating they are retirees (which allows other benefits). Those seperated, do not. Both get to wear “I am a Veteran!” ballcaps.
[nitpick]
I retired at 15 years, 10 months. I have the blue ID card. I have full benefits and entitlements. I get retirement pay. It’s not the full “50%-for-20-years” gig, but it beats a kick in the shins.
[/nitpick]
Tripler
There are rare, case-by-case exceptions to every rule.
I never knew this.
Next you’ll tell me there’s a naval or military rank with “sport” or “tiger” in it, too!
To be specific, chiefs are grades ["]E-7, -8, and -9](Uniformed services pay grades of the United States - Wikipedia[1).
Back in the day there was a distinct break in uniform between chiefs and the lesser ranks, the latter wearing the ‘crackerjack’ uniform while the former wore something a lot closer to an officer’s uniform* (but without shoulder boards for the dressier ones). Nowadays the distinction between the two is a lot less.
*When I was in a tenant command on a small Army base, I had a corporal plea with me on how to distinguish chiefs from officers, since he was embarrassed by constantly saluting the wrong guy.
No, but there’s a Master Sgt and a Master Chief.