Why do you think he was a civilian? Neil Armstrong was a Naval Aviator with the rank of Commander and subject to military disciplines all his life.
No, that's sometimes how it works in the United Kingdom, but that's expressly
not how it works in the United States. Once an officer leaves the service -- as Armstrong did long before joining NASA -- he is no longer entitled to the privileges afforded active-duty servicemen.
It was a big deal that Armstrong flew the X-15 as a civilian. It was a big deal that he came to NASA as a civilian already wearing astronaut wings. It was a big deal that the commander of the first Apollo landing mission was not a military officer, but rather an aviator who had distinguished himself as a test pilot
as a civilian.
For someone who claims to have spoken to the ghost of Neil Armstrong, you seem to have this concept of his career that would be arrived at by a British subject who only did a little bit of research and really did not delve into the details, and assumed he knew how military service worked in the U.S. I hope you realize that I'm an internationally recognized historian of the Apollo project as well as a professional aerospace engineer. I
will expose you.
And you still need to explain how
you got to golf at a course reserved for active-duty U.S. military personnel, that does not allow guests. I'm a U.S. citizen and an erstwhile defense contractor, and even
I don't get to golf there. So please explain this.