Lawmaker who claims to be a retired rear admiral was actually demoted

You get to keep the higher rank if the reason is you reached mandatory retirement date. What really matters is the last 36 months of pay grade. I think there is a general misconception about the 36 month rule. It's a rolling 36 months.

He probably pulled out the resignation/retirement card before it officially got rolling. The military is notorious for letting service members off the hook that way.

CPT (Join to see) - The Navy is notorious for punishing Officers because they did something that pissed on the bosses, whether it was a court martial offense or not.

Here is the deal. He probably got promoted to RADM. However if you do not serve in the rank for three years after pin on it is not a demotion, you revert back to your previous rank for retirement and benefits. He could have worn it for 2 years and 362 days and he still would have reverted back to Captain for retirement. Also he may have been frocked into the position which means the position he was in requires an admiral so they frocked him to Admiral although he was receiving pay of a Captain. Probably not demoted.