# Do Military Personel get to get their titles after they retire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850 "2002-10-25T16:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850/41 "2017-05-10T17:11:43Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > [_ **Still** _ know this is a zombie . . .] > > This isn’t correct, at least in the US. If you do you’re 20 or more, and if you accept your retirement check, you are transfer to the “retired reserve.” As such, from E-4 to O-10, you are subject to recall. > > If for some odd reason, if you don’t want to take your retirement after sufficient time that you have qualified for it, you are not in the “retired reserve” and you’re not subject to recall. Having said that, I’ve never heard of anyone doing it. The initial pay is actually “Fleet Reserve Retainer” pay, until you hit, IIRC, 60. THEN you shift to the Retired List. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850/42 "2017-05-10T17:22:10Z")
(oops, making a point already made) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850/43 "2017-05-10T17:32:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > About England, upthread, and especially TV, doesn’t every other comedy have a doddering old Major hanging around? Or maybe I’m just imprinted with _Fawlty Towers_. _Fawlty Towers_ was representing a common reality, that a hotel like that would very likely have had a retired army officer with no family living out their years. It used to be said you could put your head round the door of almost any pub and ask “Has the Major been in?”, and it would make sense. Compare and contrast, for example, the David Niven character in Terence Rattigan’s _Separate Tables_. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850/44 "2017-05-10T17:50:42Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > The initial pay is actually “Fleet Reserve Retainer” pay, until you hit, IIRC, 60. THEN you shift to the Retired List. Yeah, the Navy and the Marine Corps have that unique construct called the Fleet Reserve that neither the Army nor the Air Force have. You’re correct that it’s actually called retainer pay until the member hits 30 years of service (not 60 years old), then they are automatically transferred to the retired list. The fleet reserve and retired reserve are really a distinction without a difference. There have been discussions to eliminate it, but it’s really not worth the effort to change it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-military-personel-get-to-get-their-titles-after-they-retire/133850.md?page=2)