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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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Page load link Go to Top Regulation, approved.
This document applies to legal relations related to the consideration of applications for admission to citizenship in a simplified manner, to the extent not regulated by Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation of 04/24/2019 N 183, 04/29/2019 N 187, 09/30/2022 N 690.
Information about the applicant
0003
__________________________________________________________________
patronymics indicate the previous surname, first name, patronymic,
__________________________________________________________________
reason and date of change)
0003
(Male/Female)
issuance)
5. Nationality ________________________________________________
(optional)
6. Religion _______________________________________________
(optional)
0003
where and when graduated, diploma number, date and place of issue)
8. Academic degree, academic title _________________________________
(diploma number, date
_________________________________________________________________
and place of issue)
9.
Labor activity for the last five years prior to
date of application (including education in
organizations, military service)
10. Do you have an unfulfilled obligation to pay taxes,
established by the legislation of the Russian Federation (in
in accordance with the submitted document) ________________________
(yes, no)
11. Attitude towards military duty _____________________________
(conscript,
__________________________________________________________________
not liable for military service, if they did military service, indicate
where, when, branch of service, military rank)
, no)
Is there any valid and
enforceable court conviction ________________
(yes, no)
(if yes, indicate which, when and on what basis
__________________________________________________________________
acquired, document, its number, date and place of issue; if
__________________________________________________________________
no other citizenship - confirmation of the possibility
of its acquisition)
0003
15.
Document proving the identity and citizenship of the Russian Federation
______________________________________________________________
(type, series, number, by whom and when issued)
Together with the application, I present the following documents0003
I am warned that, in accordance with Article 22
of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation", the decision to
renounce the citizenship of the Russian Federation, made on the basis of
false documents or knowingly false information, is subject to
cancellation .
I agree to the processing of personal data specified in the application
.
Authenticity of submitted documents and reliability
I confirm the stated data.
_______________________ ___________________
(application date) (applicant's signature)
┌────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────┐
│ Application accepted for consideration _______________ based on │
│ (date) │
│______________________ Federal Law "On Citizenship"
│ (article, part, paragraph) │
│ of the Russian Federation".
│
│ Correctness of filling out the application and availability of the necessary │
│ documents checked; application signed in my presence, │
│ I confirm the authenticity of the applicant's signature │
│________________________________________________________________│
│ (special rank, position, surname, initials │
│M.P. │
───────────────────┘
----------------------------- ---
<1> Three 3 x 4 cm photographs are attached to the application.
<2> The official seal of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is affixed.
<3> The application is filled out by hand or using technical means (typewriters, computers), without abbreviations, abbreviations, corrections and dashes. Answers to questions must be exhaustive. Handwritten text must be legible.
<4> If the spouses simultaneously apply for renunciation of citizenship of the Russian Federation, the children are included in the application of one of the parents.
<5> When filling out this item, enterprises, institutions, organizations must be named as they were called during the applicant's work in them.
If the applicant is an unincorporated entrepreneur, then the number of the registration certificate, the name of the registration authority and the place of issue are indicated.
In the case of military service, you must indicate the position, number of the military unit (institution), its (his) location.
If the applicant has been granted a pension, indicate the type of pension, the number of the certificate (certificate), by whom and when it was issued, or the details of the certificate of the territorial authority of the Pension and Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation on the appointment of a pension.
<6> In the case provided for by part three of Article 32 of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation", the authenticity of the applicant's signature is certified in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on notaries.
<7> The official seal of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is affixed.
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