After decades of service, then what?

By Neville van Rensburg

After serving in emergency services for 44 years, I retired with a deep sense of pride but also with a gnawing realisation: there are no proper exit programmes for people like me.

My journey began in 1979, answering fire calls, floodwaters, extricate patients from crushed vehicles and responding to disasters both at home and abroad. I wore many hats: firefighter, ILS, urban search and rescue technician, trainer and eventually, a manager responsible for overseeing rescue operations across a province. I spent my life running toward danger while others fled. And then one day, I wasn’t needed anymore, at least not in the formal system.

Retirement wasn’t the celebration I imagined. There was no structured debrief, no psychological support, no guidance on how to transition from adrenaline-filled days to quiet ones. For decades, we build our identities around service. And then? We're left to figure out the next chapter on our own.

Emergency service veterans carry a heavy load, emotionally, mentally, physically. We’ve seen things that can’t be unseen. Yet many retire without access to trauma support, financial planning or career transition programmes. The system prepares us for the battlefield but not the aftermath.

I now run a small disaster and rescue consulting business, sharing knowledge built over a lifetime. But not everyone finds that path. Many colleagues fade away into isolation, some struggling with mental health, unsure of their purpose post-uniform.

We need to talk about this. Governments, departments and professional bodies must create proper exit and reintegration programmes, not just to thank us but to preserve our knowledge, protect our mental health and help us contribute in new ways. Our service shouldn't end in silence.

To those still in the trenches: start planning early. To those in leadership: don’t let the people who gave everything walk away with nothing.

We may retire from the job but the job never leaves us.