[citation needed] Rose was discharged from the AIF in April 1920, but remained active in the Militia, Australia's reserve military force, from 1924 serving in the Australian Light Horse.

[1] After the outbreak of World War II, Rose was called up for full-time service on 24 January 1940 to Walgrove Military Camp near Penrith, Sydney.

He was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel of the 21st Light Horse, and he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 10 June 1940, accepting a reduction in rank to major.

[2] Upon returning from World War II, Rose joined the Commonwealth Department of Health as chief veterinary officer in the Northern Territory in 1946, a role in which he served until 1958.

As director, he was the most senior public servant in the region at the time allowing him to select his own staff and live at The Residency, the Government House of Central Australia.

[4] Known for his radical behaviour, Rose's most publicised outburst occurred during Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Northern Territory in March 1963.

During the speeches at a Royal luncheon at the Stuart Arms Hotel in Alice Springs, the then Administrator, The Honourable Frank Wise politely tapped his glass with a spoon.

Rose established a diagnostic and research laboratory at the AIB in Alice Springs and worked to develop a cure.

At Marree, in northern South Australia, they would be rested and fed separately and joined by suspect cattle from the surrounding region.

[8] Northern Territory cattlemen were excluded from a long term meat agreement between Britain and Australia, as their cattle did not meet quality and weight requirements.

[2] Rose served in the Northern Territory Legislative Council from 1954 to 1958 as a nominated member, and was subsequently elected to the Alice Springs seat in 1962.

He publicly alleged that 50 votes had been "wrongfully and fraudulently" recorded and that the ALP candidate Charles Orr had bribed Indigenous constituents with alcohol.

After divorcing Blaxland in 1950[1] Rose later married divorcee Nell Hooper, but she died shortly after, on 1 January 1951 in Alice Springs.

[12][13] He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1978 and awarded the Gilruth Prize for Meritorious Service to Veterinary Science in 1961.