I will honestly profess that I was immeasurably lucky with how the stars aligned for my career progression. It seems for most controllers over the last several years that the truest adage for career progression is "it's better to be lucky than good."
I believe my reasoning is too extensive and, more importantly, I am too long winded to have one succinct and poignant post on how and why I feel the way that I do.
My bitterness and disappointment towards NATCA has extremely little to do with matters and leaders at the local level; I have no ill will or feelings of animosity towards them at all (although they might not feel the same towards me after my departure). I have had several incidents at the regional and national level over the past 5 years that have soured my faith in it being an association of members and instead something far more pernicious.