B.D.F.’s Annual Volunteer Battalion Camp starts in PG
In Punta Gorda meanwhile, some four hundred plus volunteers from across the country are taking part in the Annual Volunteer Battalion Camp organized by the Belize Defence Force. The camp is preparing the new soldiers for combat. On Monday News Five travelled to Punta Gorda for the opening of the camp and the training of new recruits at the Fairweather Military Base. Duane Moody has this report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The Volunteer Battalion Camp opened with its usual pomp. The special guest was the Governor General Sir Colville Young who inspected the guards. This was followed by a briefing by volunteer soldiers who walked us through the sites where cadets are training in defense, navigation, signaling, internal security and other disciplines.
2nd Lt. Concepcion Coc, Range Conducting Officer
“My purpose is to make sure that they conduct grouping and zeroing so that when they go into their operations they can be effective. From this twenty-five meter range, they are gonna fire five rounds to the bottom centre of the black patch. And once they have a grouping they have to qualify for fifty millimeters. Once they don’t have a grouping of that they cannot go on operation.”
Duane Moody
“What is the norm? Where is it that they are supposed to hit when they do fire their shots?”
2nd Lt. Concepcion Coc
“The black centre of the black patch and the white paper, they have to hit the bottom center of that.”
Duane Moody
“That is to kill anybody that is approaching them, any assailants that are approaching them?”
2nd Lt. Concepcion Coc
“Certainly that would be a deadly shot. We are giving them the training now just like the regulars.”
Officer Cadet Jamie Lord, Recruit, Volunteer Camp
“Basic drills like hand signals field craft first aid, map reading, which is very important and we stress that a lot because they need to know how to navigate. The whole annual camp is about patrolling and so later on during the two weeks, they are gonna be touching base on patrolling and ambushing. It’s discipline; we are trying to bring them out as soldiers to be very discipline and professional.”
Lt. Col. Edmund Zuniga, Commanding Officer, Volunteer Battalion
“During the year and leading up to annual camp, we do evening trainings and weekend trainings at our different locations and those training prepare us for undertaking any function that we are expecting to undertake be it at annual camp as well as if there is an emergency we are prepared to deploy alongside our regular force counterparts and fight the same way.”
According to Commanding officer of the Volunteer Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Zuniga, the volunteers are being deployed to observation posts along the southern border.
Lt. Col. Edmund Zuniga
“This year our focus is drills and duties. That means that we move to one of the locations and this year fortunately for Punta Gorda we have taken over the activities for Fairweather Camp. And some of the things that we are involved with is we are now responsible for guarding the camp, to do all the duties on camp and we are required also to practice our drills and since this is a military base, we practice and ensure that our soldiers learn to live on a military compound. In having a rotation as we have it allows us to be well-rounded soldiers so that our soldiers can fight in whatever theatre we are expected to deploy to and fight. What is new for us this year is that we are doing operational patrols—actually going out to the observation post and doing patrols out there and observing the Guatemalan activity and interacting with the community, setting up vehicle check points.”
The rigorous training will last two weeks. Duane Moody for News Five.
The Battalion Camp volunteer soldiers will be detached at headquarters in Belize City, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Support and Training companies.
