B.D.F. volunteers hold annual battle camp in Corozal

We’ve followed them deep into the Chiquibul Forest and to the top of Baldy Beacon. Today, although the surroundings were less exotic, the B.D.F. volunteers were no less enthusiastic.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
“Dispersed across the Santa Cruz Lodge here in the Corozal District are some four hundred members of the volunteer element of the Belize Defence Force. The men and women are here for two weeks of training in the annual battle camp.”

Lt. Col. Edmund Zuniga, C.O., Volunteer Battalion
“It’s the time when we, all the volunteers come together to revise their military skills or to learn new skills.”

Learning new skills are seventy-four junior recruits, who’ve just begun their training … and seventy-one seniors, who are wrapping up and should pass out after the battle camp.

Felicia Robinson, Junior Recruit
“I feel like it’s the best job and I feel like you learn a lot. It’s a good experience and you have fun while learning.”

Kendra Griffith
“Now you’re just beginning to get into your training, how has it been so far?”

Felicia Robinson
“It’s been great, although it’s tiring a little bit, it’s been good.”

Kendra Griffith
“What does your family think of you joining the force?”

Felicia Robinson
“My family is proud of me right now.”

Also proud is P.G. student and senior recruit Rigo Zuniga, who comes from a long line of soldiers.

Rigo Zuniga, Senior Recruit
“I have a lot of family in the B.D.F. and besides, I didn’t want to be someone straying on the streets, having something to do, going to school, and working same time it’s a very good job.”

“Recently we have been learning first aid, field craft, battle field drills, section battle drills, it’s a lot of training, but I’m up to it because I really want to pass out and move on to my next level.”

And while the recruits are being moulded into military men and women, the trained soldiers will be focussing their efforts on internal security. This week, they have been learning theory, but come Sunday they’ll be putting words into action in a week-long simulated exercise.

Capt. James Petillo, Training Officer
“The scenario is based on a category three hurricane hitting Belize, but mostly impacting the northern part of the country and severely damaging Caledonia and Libertad. Hence the reason the Battalion Commander will then deploy two companies: one in Libertad and one in Caledonia. The companies will perform hurricane duties and are expected to respond to different incidents.”

Lt. Col. Edmund Zuniga”
“For us, internal security is very important because it’s an opportunity for us to revise our skills in shelter management, actually participating in activities like crowd control, vehicle checkpoints, cordon and search skills, and it is realistic because we do participate when and if required in those skills.”

According to Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Edmund Zuniga, the volunteers account for thirty-three percent of the Belize Defence Force. And when they are not training or responding to disasters, they support the day to administration of the regular force.

Col. Lt. Edmund Zuniga
“We provide at any given time you can go to any of the camps of the B.D.F. and you will find volunteers who are cooks, clerks, force police manning the gates, guards, yardmen, cleaners, you name it and you’ve got volunteers there, so we play a major role in making sure that the machinery of the regular force is kept oiled.”

But being a volunteer soldier is only a part-time job and many of them, like Battalion Adjutant Captain Elbert Worrell, have a primary career. Worrell has been teaching for fifteen years and has been in the force for nineteen. He says his military life is a good fit with his civilian job.

Capt. Elbert Worrell, Battalion Adjutant
“We train mostly on weekends and in the evenings after five, two hours two days per week and this is the biggest part of our training, which would be during our summer vacation, so it just fits in adequately with my job as a teacher.”

The battle camp ends on July twenty-first. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

Before packing up and leaving the Corozal District, the soldiers will complete community projects in Libertad and Caledonia.