I started my career with the PNG Defence Force.
I served the Defence Force for about 21 years.
Within 21 years, I made it up to the rank of lieutenant colonel before I decided to disengage.
There was a program with the Defence Force for voluntary retrenchment; for people who want to leave the force with extra benefits at that time.
And for me, I had virtually written to the commander two years before that to tell the commander that in two years’ time, I will turn 40 years old and I will decide whether to grow old or not in the Defence Force. And when the opportunity presented itself, I said “Well, that’s it. Time to leave”.
I then went home and did my own things in Kimbe, West New Britain. I was working with the provincial administration as director provincial disaster. And then I disengaged to be involved in the cocoa industry in my village.
And for about three or four years, I was the chairman for Kimbe Secondary School.
I stayed out since 2005 – over 10 years. In 2017, I was taken in.
I arrived in July in Milne Bay, and took office two weeks later.
- Peter Barkie, Milne Bay provincial police commander