Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), Dr. Raymond King will officially retire from the RBDF on Thursday when a handing over ceremony will be held at the Coral Harbour Base.

In an interview with Clint Watson on The Rundown talk show King expressed his satisfaction with his tenure at the helm of the military organization. He said, “everyday I came to work determined and committed to give it my best and everyday I left this office I left satisfied that I would have given it my best in term of, not only the safety and security in terms of border management.”

King also spoke about the training opportunities that have been made available to officers during his term like the Bahamas Maritime & Military Academy and the Centre of Excellence. “I accept that seasons come and seasons end. Evidently I would have loved to continue those programs to bring them to fruition, but as I mentioned a bit earlier, there are a number of officers more than 65% in the organization who would have been trained under my leadership and more than, I say, 40% now would have converted. They would have seen the vision and they will more likely be the Joshuas to ensure continuation of those programs, so I leave the organization in good hands,” he said.

The Commodore, who joined the RBDF in January 1987 is optimistic about the future. King said, “I look forward with promise, great promise of contributing probably even on a grander scale to the development of this country. But it becomes a part of you, we would have developed friendships almost forty years and those friendships remain long after we would have exited the service.”

Captain Floyd Moxey will be the next RBDF Commodore.