They were once soldiers in the military. They fought, patrolled, repaired, and stood guard. As tensions across the border seem to be dying down, a few quiet voices from Kerala’s coastal town remember their time during such conflict environments.
These are the men who once served in the armed forces, and protected the borders. Now they guard several the buildings in the city.
While the country salutes its armed forces on special days, these veterans say respect rarely translates into meaningful support once they are out of uniform.
“I joined the army at 18, even before finishing Class XII,” says Subin K S, a former Havaldar of the Army Air Defence Corps. The uniform called to him. “For 18 years, I served across Kashmir — from Siachen to Bandipora.
The most unforgettable scenes were at the Line of Control (LoC), where families split by the partition strived to meet each other, emotional and heartbreaking reunions,” recalls the 40-year-old.
Life was always on the edge in Kashmir, he says. “Militants and civilians lived side by side. Trust was a luxury. Even in 2019, when security was tightened, it was a hard time.”
With the new short-term service policy, young recruits won’t even get time to understand the army properly, he feels.
“War isn’t just bullets and borders — it’s poverty, broken families, and memories you carry forever,” he warns those away from border towns, calling for a war to end all the conflicts.
Like many, Subin had to retire early due to family responsibilities. However, he says, “Now we find the government is underutilising its veterans. I work as a security guard today, but I know I have more to offer.”
The story of Sonu Mathew, a former mechanic at Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Corps and the UN Missions, is also similar. For 20 years, he repaired tanks, radars, and guns, “from Pathankot to South Sudan”. Whether in UN camps along the Israel-Syria border or war-torn South Sudan, danger was constant.
“What I truly valued was the discipline the army instilled. It seems Kerala doesn’t value the armed forces. There’s also no proper welfare system for ex-servicemen,” he laments.
Today, he stands under the hot sun as a security guard, as he doesn’t want to sit idle. However, he often feels ill-treated by the people at his job. “I come from a family of soldiers. My father fought in 1971. We serve with pride, but we deserve dignity after service, too,” he says.
Another ex-serviceman, who wants to remain anonymous, agrees about the lack of respect afforded to them during their new job.
“I wasn’t supposed to end up in uniform. My plan was to study and get a government job. But after the 2001 Parliament attack, something shifted. I was 17, angry and restless. By 19, I was in the infantry,” he explains his reason to join the military.
However, his posting in the northeast changed everything. “It wasn’t the warzone people imagined — it was quieter, but tense. Jungle patrols, monsoon floods, villages where people greet you one day, and you didn’t know if they’d planted a mine the next...”
He retired after 15 years. “Back in Kochi, people call me ‘fauji’, offered me respect, but never opportunities. I applied for over 40 jobs. Most just saw me as a risk — too rigid, too old-school, too used to taking orders. I think the hardest part of serving isn’t the war — it’s the silence after,” he says.
A Navy veteran, who served for 36 years, offers his unique perspective.
He was mostly stationed in Kochi, repairing ships as part of a small team. As a soldier at heart, he is proud of Operation Sindoor.
He feels India should have responded long back. However, he is also watching his son, an apprentice engineer at Naval Command, struggling.
“Earlier, apprentices got absorbed into service. Today, everything’s outsourced to private contractors. After one or two years of training, many of these young men are left jobless,” he explains. It’s not just a Kochi issue, he adds, India has 80,000 dockyard vacancies, but all are going to contractors.
Though their uniforms have been folded away, their sense of duty remains. Kerala lacks robust systems for reintegrating former defence personnel, the veterans echo. The decline of skill-based employment also affects them as they put down their uniform.