While there is nothing stopping you from using your rank post retirement, my suggestion is that you don't use it, especially if you intend to work in the private sector.
Why?
Well, for starters, there is a real person behind the facade of the rank that we have long forgotten (or possibly been made to forget) when we joined the academy at the age of 16. Since then we have been Cadet, Gentleman Cadet, Lieutenant, Captain or whatever. These ranks or "titles" are fundamentally (and while in service, necessarily) elitist. They come with a set of responsibilities and expectations from the organization during your service. Once you leave the service, and specially if you pick up a job with a company in the private sector (we will come back to whether you should pick up a job at all, post retirement), the use of rank with your name is irrelevant to the job. It brings with it unintended baggage and has no meaning in the new life you have chosen.
Secondly, and at times, it works against you as it plays to the stereotype and your new colleagues will have strange preconceived ideas about your abilities and job fit. More often than not, you will get stupid questions starting with 'What is a fauji like you doing in "a-place-like-this"?'
Third, for our colleagues in civvy street, a Major is no different from a Major General. They have absolutely no concept beyond the stereotype depiction in feature films or from what little they get to see of the services during their lifetime. They will associate you with "guns", "borders", "march pasts", and quite amazingly, even "parties" and "liquor". They will ask why you don't have a "big moustache" or whether you have been in a war or whether you keep a gun at home, whether a subedar is senior to a major, the "department" you worked in while in service and even whether you have ever killed anyone! The list goes on.
It detracts from who you really are, what you represent as an individual and the skills that you bring to the organization. The worst torture possibly is to carry the baggage of being a Colonel or a General, and having to, with all due respect, play to the stereotype and "act like one" even after retirement.
So, drop it mate! Or at the very least, know where it is appropriate to use it and where it isin't. Loose the baggage and discover yourself and your new place in society once again as a common citizen. Trust me, even that is going to be a long journey. On the average, it takes about a year for every four that you have been in service (yes, including your time at the academies).
For some, it is already too late to change. They are stuck behind what they consider to be their entitlements - whether this takes the form of their rank, their moustache, their golf caps, their swagger sticks, miniature medals, regimental ties and unit badges - again with all due respect, for they represent a honest life led with dignity and honour. But no matter how far back into the past the glory days lay, they will attempt to hang on using every crutch available, and for as long as possible. My view is that this is probably because they are no longer able to separate the "individual" from the "entrapments of service", and that it has all unfortunately "gone to their head". In short, they appear to have forgotten the adage "old soldiers never die, they just fade away".
Quite surprisingly, despite the sea of ignorance about all matters military, our civvy street buddies are quick to pick up on the rank as if it is a qualifying criteria for jobs, irrespective of post retirement qualifications and experience you may have have picked up. I remember a conversation with the head of HR of a well known hotel chain requesting me to find a retired officer to head their security section (of course, it had to be security!). The mandate was that they had to "find some one at least of the rank of Major General, though a Lieutenant General would be ideal".
Though I passed on the opportunity to the DGR, I promptly recommended my old Subedar!
Sure enough, I did not hear back from him again! Much later, I heard that a Major General had indeed taken up the assignment. And of course, he is using his rank.
Dear Kurup (or should I call you Ranjiv, am used to "Kurup", actually),
ReplyDeleteAt the outset let me congratulate you on a great blog where one can share common experiences as well as learn from them.
I can quite relate to the dilemma of retaining rank while in civilian service. As you rightly pointed out the rank carries a lot of stereotyped responses from colleagues, subordinates and "superiors". Weird questions are asked, expectations are stated and many things are taken for granted. I have had my "boss" say " You are a fauji and are expected to work extra-hard and beyond working hours without complaint or compensation"!
Some "bosses" also take your rank to become extra obnoxious (especially those who had aspired to be faujis themselves but could not make the grade) and take extra pains to nit-pick or put you down whenever possible.
Another disadvantage of using rank, especially for those who work in a defence environment or come in contact with defence officers is the embarrassment of "seniority" and deference. I am sure you understand what I mean.
And the civilian establishment always wonders how come those still in uniform "sir" a retired officer of lesser rank! I work in an environment where many officers senior in rank "sir" me out of respect for seniority of course rather than of rank; and my "boss" wonders why the same persons call them by name.
And, again, of course, when one interacts with the civilians (and the term is not used derogatorily, let me assure you) and your card indicating your rank is handed over, the usual questions and comments about "free" liquor, canteen facilities, clubs, etc follow.
I've stopped printing my rank on my card. A respected senior of mine advised me to do so a long time back; but it took me a while to "drop the baggage".