Can Guardsmen/ Space Marines retire?

[Marcus]

Hi just wondering. In the odd chance that space marines and guardsmen survive numerous campaigns is there a possibility for them to retire? Especially for Guardsmen because at some stage old age/ wounds make them unable to fight anymore.

[Democracy Officer Cain]

Loyal Marines don't retire. The only time you'll see that happen is renegades and fallen trying to live out on the fringes away from prying eyes.

Imperial Guard do retire. They just don't usually get the chance and it's not up to them when it happens.
There's plenty of ex-guard in various mercenary jobs, sometimes a whole regiment gets turned into Planetary guard or gets given settlement rights wholesale for a world they've taken. In those cases the regiment's commander usually gets the planetary governorship.

[REBirthTheEdge]

Guardsmen are a job, so yes.

Space Marines are something they get modified into, so nope.

[Escher]

"Even in death I serve" also sometimes.

[Modern Colonial]

A space marine will never retire as they don't lose combat effectiveness with age. They will keep fighting until they are killed.

A guardsmans service is also a lifetime appointment, but there are several ways out of certain death which I will enumerate below.
1) Desertion, probably most common. A guardsman can attempt to hide following (or during) a campaign, and may be assumed dead. There won't be anyone searching for them beyond their parent unit, and after a cursory search they will be presumed dead as the attrition rate in the guard is high anyways. So it's probably fairly common in the setting and many guard deserters can likely be found on any planet the guard has visited recently.

2) Mustered out of the guard/garrison duty: Following a campaign, the munitorum may decide your regiment is not worth shipping off world for whatever reasons. Perhaps your regiments service was so meritorious the munitorum will muster you out and allow you to officially settle your liberated/conquered world. See for instance that 10000's of worlds are named "Nova Cadia" due to this. Maybe the munitorum decides its not worth shipping your regiment out for further action and will place you on garrison duty. Maybe imperial guard forces were so badly decimated the munitorum wrote the entire force off as a loss, and you are a lucky survivor. You will probably get to live out your natural life in these cases, and you will be left to your own devices.

3)Wounding: What happens to severely injured guardsmen is never quite clear. As a guardsman you are not important enough to merit any augments or replacement limbs and organs. For all the advanced care in the imperium, a regular guardsmen will only have access to medical care very similar to modern medical standards. If you can be returned to combat after treatment, they will make sure you do so. But if you are not able to fight again there are several fates. You might be herded in front of enemy gunfire ANYWAYS by a zealous commissar, but depending on your level of disability you might be lucky enough to be put into a non-combat role. The guard still needs individuals in communication, for record keeping, and local logistics. Essentially a large baggage train of non-combatants. If you can score one of these positions your chances of long term survival has shot up dramatically.

4)Promotion: Promotion in the guard is often due to survival more so than anything else. If you manage to survive multiple brutal battles you are either very lucky or skilled, so you and the other remnants of your regiment will be sent to new regiment. You might be sent as a sergeant or composed into a relatively elite veteran squad, with the hope that your skills or luck will rub off on the new recruits. As you keep surviving battles, out of necessity, you will be pushed into higher and higher positions to replace losses in higher command. After many years (decades, even) of this, and if your talents get noticed, you might eventually be promoted out of the front line, perhaps as a staff officer or pencil pusher for some general. This is the least likely path for survival, as this requires you to be noticed. And if the munitorum recognizes you or your regiment as especially competent, you will be sent to progressively worse and worse warzones, in the hopes that you will sort it out with your skills, making your survival less and less likely. Most high level IG officers will come from the schola progenium, so this path truly is an exception.

[foster]

only in death does duty end

[Ryan Gosling]

Duty til death

[Major Marler]

If death is certain why would anyone join the Imperial Guard? So your telling me the Imperium has conscription?

[Chief Spreading Bull]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Marcus:

Hi just wondering. In the odd chance that space marines and guardsmen survive numerous campaigns is there a possibility for them to retire? Especially for Guardsmen because at some stage old age/ wounds make them unable to fight anymore.

Yes Guardsmen can retire. Ciaphas HERO OF THE IMPERIUM Cain happily retired from the guard and spent his last days boning an Inquisitor, writing his memoirs and teaching commissar candidates at an orphanage in Perlia. Novel was kinda funny since it mixed high school romance with an impending invasion from a splinter fleet from the 13th Black Crusade.

Also Kara Swole's boyfriend for most of the Ravenor books is a retired imperial guard medic, until he found out she was a daemon coddling heretic and dumped her at the end of the series.

[Skela-Dude]

If a space marine would have retirement it is probably serving as a instructor for initiates or serving as a pilot, some space marines just get too messed up to fight but not enough to die.

Guardsmen however dont really get a retirement option, maaaaybe if they live long enough they can see a promotion to a position less likely to get themselves eaten and maybe take up a position in command.

[EvilJoshy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Major Marler:

If death is certain why would anyone join the Imperial Guard? So your telling me the Imperium has conscription?

Life for the average citizen in the imperium is 1 level above hell. You sleep on a metal slab, you eat this grool called corpse starch(yes its what it sounds like) if you work overtime you might get enough extra water to take a shower. This is the daily norm for your average joe and there is no way of getting out of it. Your only option for improvement is joining or getting drafted into the military. You'll most likely be killed in action but you'll have food, a gun, some cheap armor and a purpose. If you stayed a civilian you might have died of starvation, dehydration, disease or any number of things.

[Theta]

theres a kickass cutscene at the beginning of the game that explains it.
"Eternal Service"

https://youtube.com/shorts/S0lcXPJU05o?si=5Q-megpRsVotouUh

[Modern Colonial]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Major Marler:

If death is certain why would anyone join the Imperial Guard? So your telling me the Imperium has conscription?

They wouldn't know death is certain until they are in the guard and are sent to a difficult war zone. Recruitment into guard occurs in many ways and differs for each planet. Some planets may have individuals volunteer directly into the guard, others may volunteer for the PDF and then are sent to the guard later as part of the tithe. Some planets may have conscription into the PDF, and then you may be tithed into the guard. It is also possible to be conscripted directly into the guard. If there is a difficult war zone and they need new recruits NOW to replace losses, they might go to nearby planets and round up anyone that can carry a lasgun. In hive cities they might empty out entire hab-blocks and send them all to fight.
The imperium runs off of propaganda, so for many, serving in the guard is a great honor.
It's also important to note that the quality of guard units can vary dramatically based off of the different ways they get recruited, so a well drilled PDF unit tithed to the guard will fare better than random imperial civilians dragged out from their hovels.