Does rank play a part in how you view individuals after you have left the service?

Sergeant,

Yes is has an effect. It contributes to how I evaluate the person. To be totally honest, I have viewed individuals before and after my time as a active duty soldier it totally different ways. Before I was a soldier, I pretty much stayed to myself and assumed that if someone wanted something from me, want to talk to me, or needed anything else they would address me. I was pretty much brought up under the "Children should be See and not Heard" era. And I am / was fine with that. Since I became a soldier (and I will always consider myself a soldier... maybe not as qualified as I once was be a soldier just the same), I look at how a person presents them self. I listen to what they have to say and I watch how they evaluate their surroundings. After, I have met someone, if i learn that they were military, I usually raise my opinion (biased as I am to those whom have walked a similar path) and I look, listen and evaluate again. Now the Higher the rank (both as an enlisted and / or an officer) along with my evaluation sets my opinion. It can change but it is a base line. It is how I am and how I have been for 44 years.

~ole Sarge~

Not usually. All though I still "yes ma'am, no sir" when speaking to an officer I know or served with.

Nope. I'm a retired SSG/E6 and I golf with retired officers, 1 of which was 2 star. Nobody really cares anymore. I was president of a council for awhile with a retired LTC as my secretary. I respect what they accomplished and all, but we are all just people once out of the service.

My old platoon had a reunion this past summer.I was the Plt. Sgt. I retired in 2001. Our LT. went on to retire as a Major ( he had been prior service enlisted) I discovered one of my worst problem child back in 2000 is now a !sgt. We leave rank out. We all just call each other brother. Even though it had been 17 years since i last saw any of them, it took a little getting used to when one of my men called me brother and not Sgt Zelch. I adapted. WE were a very tight Infantry Platoon. They are in every sense of the word "MY BROTHERS"

I have always call everyone that was a 06 or above sir, I am in the collision business for 40ty years in San Diego and Tampa Fl a lot of retired Officers, one incident sticks out in San Diego about 20 years ago a retired Army General was getting his car fixed and my employees thought he was pulling a fast one over the insurance company and it sure looked that way, well he wasn’t so I took care of the problem and drove 75 miles to his house expecting a ass chewing up one side and down the other, after many Sirs and I am sorry,s he just looked at me and smiled and told me I owe him lunch.

well, for those who have attained higher rank, I do expect more out of them, etticute, professionalisim, etc. I do try to look at the whole person, but as we attain more rank and time and service, professional attitudes become more ingrained in our daily habits usually and helps me read others around me.

I can honestly say that it doesn't make any difference to me. One of my closest friends in the world was a Petty Officer on my last boat, and the groomsmen at my wedding were a mix of former enlisted and commissioned ranks who I served with...all of us around the same age and place in our civilian lives today.

I try to follow RP's conventions on rank, owing to the presence of AD personnel...but the way I look at it, our former ranks and grades only speak to our relative experiences. In that sense, as a civilian, I'm more inclined to defer to a former SNCO than a former peer.

Maybe it would be different for flag ranks...they're usually pretty "high up" in civilian status, and I don't really know any personally to begin with.

I think it's more a matter of your training and upbringing. Your addressing elders as sir or ma'am is common respect and former officers, that is part of what was drilled into us in basic. I find it a courtesy to address former officers of flag rank by their rank.

The rank they left tells me about their service and a little bit about them however it is not the know all end all. I would never refer to a vet that got out less than an E9 (or Chief Navy) by their rank after the military. It is a snapshot of their life.

I do the samething.