BATSUB trains British, helps Belizeans
The contingent is nowhere near the thousand men who safeguarded Belize’s sovereignty with Harrier jets, armoured vehicles and artillery… but while the British military presence in Belize has lost some muscle over the last thirty years, it is no less fit and ready. Today the media was allowed a brief look at what goes on at what used to be called Airport Camp.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The British Army Training Support Unit in Belize, BATSUB, has as its primary mission: the training of light forces of the British Army. BATSUB conducts a variety of exercises for its soldiers and this year it is expected that a total of four thousand troops would have completed the programme.
Lt. Col. Alan Whitelaw, Commanding Officer, BATSUB
?Our main activity is running large scale exercises for our light forces, for our infantry troops and we run three or four of these exercises every year. This year we?re running four and there are seven hundred, seven hundred and fifty troops who deploy from the U.K. for six weeks to conduct training in Belize.?
The training includes an intensive jungle warfare course that prepares the soldiers to fight under all kinds of harsh conditions. The soldiers say because anything that can go wrong in the jungle does go wrong, they must ready for anything. And according to BATSUB?s Commanding Officer, Lt. Col Alan Whitelaw, much of what they do is of direct benefit to Belize.
Lt. Col Alan Whitelaw
?We work closely alongside the Belize Defence Force and so there is value for the B.D.F. and there is also a section on security. And of course Belize is such a small country and it is not equip with a larger scale army, [so] the presence of an ally, friendly force, albeit as a training unit in Belize, does provide a perception of security and the activities that we conduct in Belize, and where we conduct them?in the remote areas?I think adds to security for Belize. There is also of course financial benefits. The military operations here cost a lot of money and much of that goes into the local economy.?
One essential component to the BATSUB mission is its Forward Aero-Medical Evacuation or FAME. This service not only Medivacs severely wounded soldiers, but also aids civilian causalities when the victim is unable to be transported in any other way. So far this year the BATSUB choppers have assisted a stabbing victim by transporting him from San Pedro to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City, a premature baby born in San Pedro was moved to the K.H.M.H. Special Care Baby Unit, a diver suffering from decompression illness was taken from Placencia to the recompression chamber in San Pedro, and a very sick young man with heart failure was moved from Dangriga to intensive care in Belize City. According to BATSUB, this specialized emergency service is offered free of cost.
Because the Belizean public rarely encounters BATSUB, the media was invited this morning to a briefing on the work conducted by this small, but vital, British military unit in the country.
Lt. Col Alan Whitelaw
?The British army has been here for a long time, but our activities have changed very much in the last ten years. And there are many misconceptions about why we?re here and what we?re doing and it will be useful to have the press explain what the British Army is doing now in 2005 in Belize.?
And just how long BATSUB is expected to remain in Belize? Whitelaw says they will keep a presence as long as they are welcomed.
Lt. Col. Alan Whitelaw
?We feel that the people, and indeed the government of Belize, welcome our presence and as long as they maintain the case then we?re keen to stay here.?
BATSUB is based at Price Barracks, Ladyville. Access to training areas is permitted by the Government of Belize and local landowners. BATSUB maintains a permanent military staff of eighty soldiers and employs one hundred and fifty civilian staff.
