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Written by Everett Bledsoe / Fact checked by Brain Bartell
There are many things that you need to learn for a smooth transition back into civilian life. One of those things is how to write a retired military signature. You will also need to know and remember small rules, like capitalizing military rank in a sentence. Fortunately, this guide on “How do you write retired military rank and name?” curates everything you need to know.
By the end, you should be able to write military rank and name retired and abbreviate retired military rank without having to pause or second-guess yourself. If you are not a veteran reading this, you will be able to respectfully and appropriately address retired military members.
Table of Contents
The proper way to write retired military rank differs depending on where you are addressing the veteran.
Here is how to write for the address block of an email or letter or an envelope:
For example,
However, when and where the address block of an email or letter or an envelope is used also plays a role.
Official correspondence or situation is when the veteran’s participation is related to service in the military, and vice versa for social correspondence or situations.
Similarly, rank is always included in social situations for oral addressing but may or may not be in official situations. Again, it relies on whether the situation is directly related to the veteran’s service in the military.
Note: Rank is not included when the veteran leaves service before his/her designated retirement, even if he/she was discharged under honorable conditions.
In any case, however, abbreviations can be used. They are more commonly referred to as service specific abbreviations. Thanks to them, it is possible to identify a member of the Armed Forces at first glance. Anyone—civilian military personnel—can use them at any time.
The abbreviations are by rank (From highest to lowest) for each military branch, as follows:
STANDARD STYLEThe U.S Army
The U.
S Navy
The U.
S Marine Corps
The U.S Air Force
The U.
S Coast Guard
Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force
Navy & Coast Guard
Enlisted Ranks:
Army
Maj. of the ArmyMarine Corps
Air Force
Note: Service specific abbreviations can be used to address retired reservists, using the formula: (Rank) (Full Name), (Abbreviation for Service Branch), Retired/Ret.
For example, you would write retired army rank like this: GEN Tom Smith, USA, Retired.
That wraps up our article on “How do you write retired military rank and name?” Hopefully, you have picked up a lot of useful information. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us in the comments.
We would love to hear from you!
Everett Bledsoe
I am Everett Bledsoe, taking on the responsibility of content producer for The Soldiers Project. My purpose in this project is to give honest reviews on the gear utilized and tested over time. Of course, you cannot go wrong when checking out our package of information and guide, too, as they come from reliable sources and years of experience.
See List of All ‘How To Address’ Posts
On this page:
___How to Address Retired Military (See below)
___Retired or Ret.? – Spelled Out or Abbreviated?
___Retired – In Parentheses of Not?
How to Address Retired Officers or Enlisted Personnel
United States Armed Services
—-Envelope or address block on letter or email:
—-—-(Full rank) (full name), USA/USAF/USMC, Retired
—-—-(Address)
—-—-—-or
——–—-(Full rank) (full name), USA/USAF/USMC, Ret.
——–—-(Address)
—-—-—-
—-—-(Full rank) (full name), USN/USCG, Retired
—-—-(Address)
—-—-—-or
—-——–(Full rank) (full name), USN/USCG, Ret.
——–—-(Address)
——–—-Which looks like ….
—-——–—-Captain Robert W. Thompson, USN, Retired
——–—-—-(Address)
——–—-———or
——–—-—-Captain Robert W. Thompson, USN, Ret.
—-—-—-—-(Address)
—-Envelope, Social:
—-—-(Full rank) (full name)
—-—-(Address)
—-—-Which looks like ….
How To Address Retired US Military
—-—-—-Captain Robert W. Thompson
—-—-—-(Address)
—-Letter salutation both official and social: How To Address Retired US Military
–——-Dear (basic rank) (surname):
Robert Hickey author of “Honor & Respect”
—-#1) The branch of service designation – USA, USMC, USN, USAF or USCG – and “Retired” or “Ret.” are used on official correspondence and in official situations when it is important to specify the person is retired and is not on active duty.
—-#2) The service designation and retired are not used on social correspondence or in social situations. Fully retired personnel are orally addressed by rank at their preference in (1) social situations and (2) official situations when their participation is related to their service in the military.
—-#3) In every case the service-specific abbreviation for the (full rank) can be used. These service-specific abbreviations are standard usage within the armed services.
—-#4) Follow this link for how to socially address a military couple.
Robert Hickey author of “Honor & Respect”
We have been struggling with setting up consistent prefixes and suffixes in our database for our military grads.
—-#1) For retired service folks should we spell our “Retired” or use the “Ret.” abbreviation?
—-#2) Is there a comma after the branch of service or is it “USN Ret.”
–––––––––––––––— Development Office, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Dear Fund Raiser: How To Address Retired US Military
For official correspondence DOD guides use the comma … and either Ret. or Retired is acceptable.
The show two formulas:
——–(Rank) (Full Name), (Branch of Service), (Retired)
——–(Rank) (Full Name), (Branch of Service), (Ret.)
——–Brigadier General Arthur Portnow, USA, Retired
——–Brigadier General Arthur Portnow, USA, Ret.
You may want to consider for your database using the service-specific abbreviations for the ranks:
—-—-BG Arthur Portnow, USA, Retired
—-—-BG Arthur Portnow, USA, Ret.
DOD people like the service-specific abbreviations because they will know a BG is in the Army, and a BGen is a Marine. All those service-specific abbreviations … for the USA, USN, USMC, USAF and USCG …. are in my book and elsewhere. If you want to use them – do so. If you don’t, just spell out the rank fully.
Note that the branch of service and retired status may not be necessary for what you are doing:
–—-#1) On social correspondence (personal letters, invitations or cards) – active duty vs.
retired status – and branch of service … are not pertinent … and thus not suggested in DOD guides.
–—-#2) On official correspondence branch of service and Retired are pertinent — and are used whenever in military environments where active duty personnel are present.
— Robert Hickey How To Address Retired US Military
Regarding your advice to write one’s name when retired.
––––––MSgt Trevor Ross, USAF, (Ret.)
With parentheses as shown above is the correct way to signify for retirees — not as you advise.
––––––––––––––––— T.R.
Dear TR:
Thanks for your note, but the DoD style books disagree with you. Either of these forms is correct if you follow those.
––––––MSgt Trevor Ross, USAF, Retired
––––––MSgt Trevor Ross, USAF, Ret.
Here’s why: DoD stylebooks suggest:
––––––(Rank) (Name), (Branch of Service), (Retired)
––––––(Rank) (Name), (Branch of Service), (Ret.
)
Every protocol officer I’ve polled (and that is a large number including the offices of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretaries of all the services) says the DoD stylebook is not suggesting to include parentheses around Ret. anymore than it is suggesting to put parentheses around the (Rank) or (Name).
So while I agree you do see people using the parentheses around Ret. – I present the style suggested by the protocol officers at the top of the Pentagon …. and they all say “no parentheses.”
— Robert Hickey
Robert Hickey author of “Honor & Respect”
You can use these forms of address for any mode of communication: addressing a letter, invitation, card or Email. (If there are differences between the official and social forms of address, I will have mentioned the different forms.) The form noted in the salutation is the same form you say when you say their name in conversation or when you greet them.
___What I don’t cover on this site are many things I do cover in my book: all the rules of forms of address, about names, international titles, precedence, complimentary closes, details on invitations, place cards, all sorts of introductions, etc. I hope you’ll get a copy of the book if you’d like the further detail.
—-#1) At right on desktops, at the bottom of every page on tablets and phones, is a list of all the offices, officials & topics covered on the site.
—-#2) If you don’t see the official you seek included or your question answered send me an e-mail. I am pretty fast at sending a reply: usually the next day or so (unless I am traveling.) Note: I don’t have mailing or Email addresses for any of the officials and I don’t keep track of offices that exist only in history books.
—-#3) If I think your question is of interest to others, Sometimes I post the question – but always change all the specifics.
— Robert Hickey
Robert Hickey author of “Honor & Respect”
Recommended Resources: The Protocol School of Washington (PSOW) and Protocol and Diplomacy International – Protocol Officers Association (PDI-POA) For more information see the Protocol Resources page.
Robert Hickey2021-08-28T14:10:40-04:00Abbess Abbot
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The Russian Pension Fund authorities provide citizens with various opportunities for feedback and submission of applications to the Pension Fund.
Citizens and policyholders can apply with a proposal, question, application or complaint in person or in writing. You can submit your appeal at all levels of the PFR system in the region - in the client services of the PFR departments in cities and districts of the region, directly at the Branch.
For the convenience of citizens, the website of the Pension Fund www.pfrf.ru has an online reception for written applications in electronic form. Appeals from citizens and policyholders are also accepted by the Department by phone hotline and via the Internet.
- In 2018, the number of written appeals to the Department and the Office of the PFR in the cities and districts of the region increased by 17% compared to 2017 and amounted to 6.23 thousand appeals, - says the head of the department for working with appeals of the OPFR in the Altai Territory Sofia Ilyinkova. – The predominant number of written appeals (56%) was received by the regional Department.
In the first three months of 2019, we received 5,045 complaints, of which 1,233 were written, 401 were oral, and 3,411 were through calls to the hotline.
You can contact the Pension Fund not only on issues related to the correct calculation of the amount of the pension and the possibility of its increase, indexation and recalculation of pensions, payment of pensions and the legality of deductions according to executive documents, but also on issues of payment of insurance premiums, reporting, use of maternity funds capital, providing a set of social services, organizing the work of client services.
- All appeals received from citizens and policyholders are considered in a timely manner and in full, - Sofya Alexandrovna comments, - the applicants are given explanations, and in some cases assistance is provided in obtaining the necessary documents and services. Proposals, applications and complaints received from citizens are analyzed by expert specialists, and special work is carried out on the most massive ones.
Separate control is exercised over reports of possible manifestations of corruption.
Let us remind you that for a prompt response to citizens' appeals, the Department has a hotline telephone - 8 (3852) 399 934. About 12 thousand people were consulted through this resource alone during the year. And the operators of the PFR regional contact center ( 8 (3852) 399 999) received almost 59 thousand phone calls.
Please note that in addition to the hotline telephone, consultations are also organized in the regional offices of the Pension Fund, all contacts are posted on the official website of the Pension Fund.
For the convenience of citizens, the website of the Pension Fund has an online reception for written applications in electronic form, and since 2017, an Internet reception has been operating for our fellow countrymen, organized by the Altaiskaya Pravda information portal and the regional branch of the PFR. Last year alone, this “direct line” received several hundred questions.
At the same time, if an appeal to the reception of Altaiskaya Pravda requires clarification of personal data* (for example, the amount of a pension), then such a question should be addressed to the PFR online consultant or to the Pension Fund at the place of residence, since department specialists do not have the right on an information resource on the Internet to explain information containing personal data of citizens. You can ask your questions in the "Reception" section on the website www.ap22.ru.
We would like to add that the online consultation of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for the Altai Territory can also be obtained in the official groups of social networks: VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
________________________________
* In accordance with the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ “On Personal Data”
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Many pensioners habitually choose to receive their pension in cash, but this may not be the right option for everyone. Indeed, not everyone has the time and opportunity to regularly go to the post office or wait for the postman with the next payment at home. To make the process of receiving a pension more convenient, efficient and safe, you can set up its transfer to a bank card. In this way, funds will be automatically credited to the specified account, eliminating the need for the recipient to visit the post office and reducing the risk of loss or theft of funds.
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Let's find out how you can transfer pension accruals to a bank card and what you may need for this.
There are many advantages to receiving a pension in non-cash form. Let's consider the most basic of them.
The Pension Fund pays pensions to the cards only of those banks with which the relevant agreement has been concluded.
Before submitting an application, check with the bank if it has an agreement with the PFR branch you need.
The recipient himself, his representative, for example, a guardian or custodian, or his authorized representative, that is, the person to whom the power of attorney for receiving pension payments is issued, can apply for the transfer of a pension. There are two main ways to transfer a pension to a bank account - apply to the Pension Fund or fill out an online application on the State Services portal. Let's consider both methods in more detail.
Through the FIU
You can contact the FIU both in person and remotely. In the first case, you need to choose the branch of the fund closest to you, make an appointment and fill out an application for transfer there with the help of one of the employees. The second option is to apply online. To do this, you need to register on the website of the Pension Fund, enter your personal account and in the "Pensions" section fill out an application to change the method of delivery of payments, indicating "Through a credit institution" as the main option.
There you will also need to indicate the details of the card to which payments will be transferred, including the account number to which the card is linked - you can find it in the banking application or from a representative of a credit institution.
Through the State Services
Another way to arrange a pension transfer remotely is to use the state portal of the State Services. To apply through Public Services, you only need a verified account on the portal. An application for the delivery of a pension can be found in the section "Services" - "Payment of pensions". In the application itself, you need to note the new method of receiving funds - “Via a credit card”, as well as indicate the full details of the payment instrument.
Once completed, the application will be sent to the FIU for approval - a response from the agency usually comes within a few days. However, after the application is approved and a response is received, the pensioner or his representative will still have to visit the nearest FIU branch in order to provide the agency with the originals of the necessary documents.
To apply for a pension transfer, you need to provide the following documents:
If the pensioner's representative submits the application, they will also have to provide their identity card and a document confirming their authority as a representative - for example, a power of attorney.
According to the legislation, pension payments can be credited to debit cards of any banks.
The main condition is that these cards must belong to the MIR payment system, since, according to the law, any budget payments can only be credited to the means of payment of the national operator.
If a pensioner does not yet have any card, then before submitting an application to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation or at the State Services, he will need to visit a branch of the bank of his choice, conclude an agreement for banking services and issue a card
Russian banks now offer a variety of products designed specifically for pensioners, including plastic cards with preferential services. At the same time, pension payments can be credited not only to them, but in general to any standard bank cards. Therefore, if a pensioner already has a debit card of the MIR system in any of the Russian banks, he can set up the transfer of a pension to it - it is not necessary to issue a new one.
Yes, if the pension is already credited to an account with one bank, it can be transferred to an account with another, for example, one that provides more favorable terms of service or offers pensioners additional bonuses. To change the current credit institution to a new one, you need only two steps:
1
Apply to a new bank and issue a new bank card
2
Apply to the Pension Fund branch with an application to change the details of the account to which the pension is credited
It usually takes one to several days to get approval from the Pension Fund.
After the application is approved, the pension will automatically be transferred to the specified card. However, you need to pay attention to the fact that the transfer of a pension in a non-cash way may take place on other dates than its issuance by mail. The exact terms of crediting will depend on the bank and on the mode of operation of the FIU in your region, however, in most cases, crediting to the account occurs on the same day that the money was received from the FIU.
Pension accruals can be received in cash, or you can set up their transfer to a bank card belonging to the MIR national payment system. You can set up a transfer in person - by contacting the PFR department, or remotely - through the PFR website or the State Services portal. The transfer of pension savings may take several days.
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