“Why did you quit the Air Force?” Yes, this is the question I am often asked by my near and dears and every other person I meet in my second inning of my life.
Some times I indeed ask myself the same question. It was a career I choose for myself at my own will without any external enforcement. I adored it from the day one till the day I hung my uniform and called it a day. There were many ups and downs in the career as a uniformed personnel but I took it positively. The excitement and challenges were a lot which I enjoyed. The twenty years I spent was worth memoirs. At the age of eighteen I got a mold which I need to take the challenges of life.
In my opinion every citizen must get an opportunity to serve his nation. This is the best way to do it. But continuing till the retirement age in the forces will lead to scarcity of opportunity to the new aspirants waiting to get into it. This doesn’t mean that everybody should quit after initial engagement. Leadership is also an issue which requires some of the well experienced lot to continue to motivate and lead the young aspirants to their goal. At the same time vacancies must be created by the way of exiting of a few percentages through voluntary retirement as the civil term used these days. Secondly, if I have proved myself in a well disciplined force, I can place myself well in the new environment.
The answer to the question put to me is that I have quit the forces to make place for my following generation to get a chance to love and understand the life in uniform and serve the nation to the maximum at the same time groom oneself towards and exciting career.