After your term of service, do you have a hard time not calling the rank of your first line supervisor or known rank?

Yes it's hard to call folks by their first names when they were always SGM so and so or Top. I work on post and many of the CSMs and Officers I knew as a young Soldier up to my retirement work here in some capacity or other. Even though they have told me to call them Bill, Julius or whatever they will always be in my mind Sergeant Major or Colonel.

I run into this when I see one of my old Soldiers and they call me everything from Sergeant Saint to Top or Sergeant Major depending on when we served together. I have just given up on telling them to call me Richard.

I'm still in touch with my first CSM. He is long since retired but I still address him as CSM. To me, it is my way of showing respect.

If the individual was higher ranked than me I still call them by their rank, chief, or Sir/Ma’am. After 21 years it’s hard to get that out of my system