Major Kanwal Sethi enlisted in the King's African Rifles in 1962, and was commissioned into the new Kenya Army in 1964. Along the way, he won prestigious training positions at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the British Army Staff College, in Camberley, UK. Sethi was badly wounded in a combat action fighting the secessionist shifta insurgency, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for bravery and leadership.

Throughout his army years, Sethi enjoyed an extraordinary career on the sidelines of history, which he then followed up with an equally successful second act as an entrepreneur in Canada, where he migrated with his family in 1980. He lives in Toronto and is extensively involved as a volunteer at the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Canadian Legion.