Awards and an Inauguration Ceremony at Coast Guard Christmas Luncheon

Today, at the Belize Coast Guard Headquarters, the leadership of the naval unit along with its political leader hosted its annual Christmas luncheon. Aside from being served by their superiors, the opportunity was used to award those seamen and women who have done exceptionally well over the year; the coveted Commandant Awardee was also announced. Before lunch was served, a recreational space, built by the coast guard personnel over the past six months, was officially inaugurated by Commandant Elton Bennett and Minister of National Security Florencio Marin Junior. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Elton Bennett

Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard

“It’s the time of the year that we set aside, the officers and sailors, we get together and the officers show appreciation to the sailors throughout the year – the hard work that they put out throughout the year. We set this time aside to recognise those who performed extremely well over the past year. We have a few awards and we have promotions as well. So it is a very important part of our annual calendar.”

Duane Moody, Reporting

It was a celebration of the achievements of the Belize Coast Guard today. In terms of promotions: twenty-two seamen were promoted to petty officers; ten petty officers were promoted to second class and six petty officers to first class.  Two-thirds of the coast guard was present at today’s event because there is continuous at sea presence that is maintained.

Elton Bennett

“We have different awards. We have the best seaman of the year, best engineer, best operational commander and the commandant also issues a special award. So we have about five awards that are lined up and this is what we do every year. We also have our promotional ceremony that will take place also today so we have from the various ranks that will be promoted today.”

Minister of National Defence, Florencio Marin Junior and his sister, Attorney General Magali Marin-Young were also present for the luncheon. They joined in serving the sailors of the coast guard.  Minister Marin Junior speaks on this military tradition.

Florencio Marin Jr.

Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of National Defence

“It is a beautiful tradition and that’s why you see myself and the Attorney General are here to give the food out to the sailors that have w9rked very hard throughout the year and I think in particular we all know the work they did in Hurricane Lisa.”

During today’s activities, ribbon was cut for a recreational center, built over the past six months by coast guard personnel.

Elton Bennett

“This was built by the Belize Coast Guard, our personnel – we drew upon talent that was within the coast guard, different years of trade. We built this over about six months to get it done. So it’s a recreational facility that we built for ourselves.

We have a pool, we have football game, we have dart, we have television and cable. It is really just an area where sailors can go and relax during out of hours work. It has been missing from our headquarters here for years and we’ve never had somewhere where the coast guard personnel can actually go and unwind. And that’s very, very important for wellness.”

The awardees are as follows: Seaman of the Year was Maleek Caliz, Engineer of the Year was Seaman Charles Belisle, Coxswain of the Year went to Seaman Gabriel Vellos; Patrol Commander of the Year was Petty Officer Second Class Raheem Castillo and the Unit of the Year was Motor Transport Unit. The Hermelinda Emanuel Award was issued to Joany Smith and Seaman Nashen Ysaguirre was bestowed with the coveted Commandant’s Award. Duane Moody for News Five.