Get ready to retire with honor, top general warns colleagues

Santo Domingo.- At least 60 of the Armed Forces’ 147 generals -many of whom have neither a command or function- should mentally prepare for retirement, warned Armed Forces minister Sigfrido Pared on Thursday.

He also acknowledged that national sectors consider the number of generals in active duty exaggerated. "We should understand by now, once and for all that retirement is honorable. Here we feel that retirement is painful.”

And to clear doubts as to the sincerity of his statement, Dominican Republic’s only three-star general officer put himself as an example. "I am Sigfrido Pared, Minister of the Armed Forces, and I am serving the last months of my military career. It will be 40 soon. I am among those who should depart and go to civilian life."

The official’s warning aims to break with the tradition that generals resist being placed on retirement, despite being aware that their military careers should come to an end. "In every country in the world every officer knows when they’ll go and when they go, they leave with pride."

"We must start from scratch and change the Dominican military’s code or chip," he said, quoted by elcaribe.com.do.