When did career soldiers who first enlisted in WWII start retiring from the Military?

[Bob Hudson]

I met Rudy on an airplane sometime in the late 1980's. I at first thought he was some retired sailor wearing a uniform, but he set me straight on that.

[hink441]

I have been fortunate and have met Rudy a few times. I live in Virginia Beach and the first time I met Rudy was standing in line at the local DMV. He really is a down to earth brutally honest man. A true American Hero. :salute:

[SKIPH]

This will blow your mind. I can remember in the 78' or 79', we had this old MSG in the battalion, getting ready to retire. He and my team mate had served together in Vietnam. My bud explained that this guy was a Czech, who was drafted into the German army. He was a German paratrooper, who got an Iron Cross on Crete. Was in Berlin at wars end. Ended up in the French Foreign Legion at Dien Bien Phu-POW. Joined the US army, was in SF, and retired around 79' or 80'. I served with a lot of characters in the 70's and 80's. SKIP

[12A54]

My Division Chaplain in 1984-85 in 1st ID was a D-Day veteran. His combat patch was the blue amphibious engineer (?) patch with a Ranger tab above it. Very odd, but the story was that he had breached obstacles on Omaha Beach. Got out after the war and then became a Chaplain. He was a great guy and a Lt.Col. at the time.

[CNY Militaria]

There is an active duty MSG in my battalion that was drafted in Vietnam, 1969. Still serving.

[SKIPH]

CNY Militaria-That MSG has 43 years. Somewhere along the line he had a long break in service. I saw guys on active duty years ago that had come in during the 50s, had 10-15 years break, and re-uped. This guy had to be 19 or more to be drafted, he's 62 years old at a minimum. I know the current APFT goes to 62 years, but didn't expect active duty to be in that long. Are you in a reserve or guard unit with active duty advisors? I'm 62, and have been retired 21 years. I'm in decent shape, but not good enough to work my old mos, 18Z. SKIP

[CNY Militaria]

He retired in '89 as a 1SG and has come back in a few times, and retired three more times since. He is being made an honorary CSM this summer. He has been exempt from PT, deploying, and going to the field. AKA, he works in the office only.

[SKIPH]

CNY Militaria- You're only allowed to retire from active duty "once"... Years ago, the army had what were called "Hip Pocket Orders", in case of a real national emergency. You had 7 days to report if notified, or you lost your retirement. That was very limited to certain MOS'. I had the Hip Pocket Orders until they were rescinded in the mid-late 90s, when the program was ended. Once you retire from active duty you're not even allowed to join the reserves or guard. You sure he's not a civilian employee, GS, or contractor. Does he wear a army uniform? Are you in the guard, reserves, or ROTC? Junior ROTC can have retirees, in uniform forever. The school, pays them the difference between their retired pay, and the current level based on their retired rank. So, basically they receive the equivalent of current pay. Something is not making sense here. It's gotta be ROTC. SKIP

[CNY Militaria]

Active duty MP battalion, not ROTC. He wears his uniform daily. He is not the only retiree doing this, I know a few others as well.

[CNY Militaria]

Sorry, meant to say say he retired twice since. Once in 1989, 2008, and 2010. He keeps working to come back on a temporary basis as slots are left unfilled by MTOE.

[Jack's Son]

Short of a statistician turned loose in the NPRC, I doubt we will ever know the answer to the question.

[BEAST]

Here is the BDU of William E. Butler who enlisted in 1946, and was still serving in 1991.

 

 

If you look at the NARA records, you will see that he lied about his age to join. He served with the 82nd in Germany after the war and was trained as a glider man and a paratrooper.

 

He joined the Indiana Army National Guard and served as First Sergeant with Company D, 151st Infantry, also known as the Indiana Rangers who served in Vietnam. Here is his Former wartime Organization patch that is on the right sleeve of the BDU.

 

 

In this photo, you can see him wearing not only his jump wings, but also his glider wings as well

 

 

If interested, you can read more about him in this thread:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...E\.+BUTLER

[SKIPH]

CNY Militaria- I just did a bunch of research. Based upon what I read, there are a few retirees that had to do a lot of paperwork to get back to active duty. Some of those positions were for military police. It has a lot to do with directives from 9/11. But, you can volunteer to come back to active duty. Get this! Up to age 70. Actually 2 retirees were killed in Iraq. It depends what you read . Most of the info is on IRR, not retired, being activated. You can be activated if retired, in a national mobilization up to age 60. Again certain MOS'. The info on the retirees was in an article from a USA Today, covering retirees back on duty. I work on FT Bragg, and most of us are retired. I don't know of anyone doing it, or anyone who has been recalled. Anyway, shake the 1SG's hand for me. See if you can pin down some more info. I'm gonna check at work. This is interesting. SKIP

[CNY Militaria]

Thanks for the info! He is the "wise old man that knows all" when it comes to what we do here! He has even worked as a Duty Officer in an MP capacity before as he mainly deals with Law Enforcement Ops. Also, when our BDE was deployed a few years ago, its commander from 1995 volunteered to command the Provisional Rear BDE--a Colonel who joined the Army in the Women's Army Corps!

[SKIPH]

CNY Militaria-Find out how he went about it. Did he volunteer, or was he "drafted"? I'm sure some of the younger retirees I work with would be interested. I'm not! The prospects of humping a rucksack, and jumping out of planes again is just not that appealing. SKIP

[CNY Militaria]

I do know he volunteered--he always said that he couldn't stay away. At his last "end of service again" ceremony, we have him a blank plaque and told him to have it engraved when he decides which year he will actually be done haha. I think when he finishes this time it will be for good he says.

 

Justin

[rr01]

The law regarding retirees returning to duty was clarified in 2000 but by the time it became widely known the attacks had already taken place and prior service guys were coming out of the woodwork to get back in so us retirees had an uphill battle. I began my paperwork in June '01 but fell to the aforementioned and have since remained retired however a close friend of mine DID make it back in in '02 and only this past year went back into retirement after several extremely intense combat deployments. No, he wasn't a Vietnam guy but I'm primarily addressing the part about retirees reentering the military.

As far as the original question those who entered during WWII and had a normal career would have begun retiring in the early '60s and the last ones, the senior officers would have been departing by the mid to late '70s.

Of course there are the variables but I see it's time for me to shut down.