B.D.F. recruits undergo rigorous training

When it comes to defending our country, Belize has a dilemma. In the first place, we have very limited resources … and armies are expensive. Secondly, the country has a tiny population but very long borders, including thousands of square miles of sea. Added to the mix is a belligerent neighbour forty times our size that covets our territory and has the ability to carry out its threats. What all this means is that if you are a soldier in the Belize Defence Force you better be good … very good. Tonight News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports on how the B.D.F. takes raw recruits and moulds them into effective fighters.

Major Louis Sutherland, Adjutant, Belie Defence Force
?We have a great responsibility, a great task, of converting a person who was a civilian essentially and mould them in military thinking, into soldiers.?

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
And for the last five weeks, these men and women have been learning just that: how to become a solider. According to B.D.F. Adjutant Major Louis Sutherland, the process starts months in advance with the selection of recruits.

Major Louis Sutherland
?The recruiting drive consists of three parts: an examination package, which is prepared by the Examination Unit of the Education Department, a physical assessment and a basic medical evaluation. The examination consists of basic math, comprehension skills, science, which is pitched roughly at about second form level. The physical fitness consists of a mile and a half run in fifteen minutes and a mile and a half run in best effort.?

The exams are graded and the results sent back to the Force. The successful applicants are notified and ordered to assemble for the start of their training. This year seventy persons were chosen, although for various reasons that number has been whittled down to sixty-three.

A recruit?s day starts early at four a.m. and does not end until around eleven in the night. The intervening nineteen hours are kept full of activity.

Capt. Tomas Cal, Officer Commanding, Training Wing
?First thing they do is show up on the parade square, do an accountability check, making sure that every individual is up and going through the various people that are probably feeling ill and so forth. Going back to their barrack rooms, doing some cleaning up, making sure that their rooms are tidy, cleaning the various areas that they utilise, the lecture rooms, the ablution and so forth and then they move back on the parade square at five, ready to go through an hour?s duration of physical training. After that they move back to do their personal admin. Quick shower, changing combat uniforms, move off as a body to the kitchen, have their breakfast. Move back to training company lines, do another muster parade in terms of going through the inspection, make sure that they are properly attired, that they are doing the things they are supposed to do in terms of ironing their uniform to the best, water shining their boots and so forth. And then thereafter progress into the day?s routine of whatever it may be. It could be some more drills, weapons handling, map reading, first aid, signals and so forth. It?s a mixture of theory, practical, and some field lessons.?

According to Officer Commanding the Training Wing, Captain Tomas Cal, the first six weeks are the most difficult as the soldiers are in confinement. For families and friends of the recruits, this television report is the first glimpse of them in over a month.

Capt. Tomas Cal
?That is done so as to break away the contact from their relatives, friends, families and so forth. And to confirm whether they have that determination, that interest to actually join the Belize Defence Force. It is rigorous to the extent that many an individuals will feel that they can?t make it through the training. Some are really weak in their minds, saying I can?t do this, when in fact the body can take a lot. So that?s the main reason why we go through this rigorous type operations and training.?

The recruits have to complete three field training sessions which will equip them with the skills necessary to survive in the jungle. Their first taste of the bush is called ?an eye opener? and lasts for a week. This year?s ?eye opener? is being conducted near Carmelita in the Orange Walk District.

Lt. Brandon Garcia, Platoon Cmdr., Alpha Company
?We are doing firing and manoeuvring by sections, fire teams and individually. We also concentrate on doing harbouring drills and fine tuning weapon handling. These skills are important because as a soldier you need to know how to operate your weapon efficiently so as not to endanger others.?

And sessions are as close to real as it gets, especially in the midst of recent rains. But the recruits aren?t complaining.

Kendra Griffith
?How are you finding the training so far??

Ryan Rowland, B.D.F. Recruit
?It is good. It is intensive, but I?m coming along.?

Twenty-two year old Cayo resident Jessica Gomez is one of five women in this year?s intake. She says that coming from a family of soldiers is what prompted her decision to sign up.

Jessica Gomez, B.D.F. Recruit
?My dad used to be guard and my uncle was in the army and right now my cousin is in that army. So that just inspired me.?

Kendra Griffith
?Do you think girls can do as well as guys in the army??

Jessica Gomez
?Yes they can. If I can be here, they could be here as well.?

But to be here you?ve got to have a thick skin, as tough love is the only kind on the menu.

Ryan Rowland
?We get used to it from time to time. The hollering noh mean nothing, dah just fi mek you understand and get what so ever the instructors are trying to put across to you.?

Capt. Tomas Cal
?One of the main reasons for the yelling is one, as a civilian, they are not used to being shouted at by their parents, they are used to being talked to nicely in a nice form, nice manner. But here in the Belize Defence Force, we train them to a standard whereby they will be able to do combat in some sort of war. And in a situation like that, it?s an uneasy situation, whereby various types of activity are happening at the same time and you don?t have time to talk to any individual in a nice manner. You will be shouting all the way out and so they will have to get used to the shouting.?

The transition from civilian to soldier is tough, with fatigue being the most common complaint. But according to the veterans there?s a good reason for all the hard work.

Capt. Tomas Cal
?There are times when the troops have to go through mountainous areas. They have to complete the objective. So they?ll find themselves lack of sleep, lack of rest, fatigued, but they?ll have to complete the objective.?

Lt. Brandon Garcia
?The harder you train the easier you fight, and that?s how we approach training our recruits.?

Kendra Griffith
?The recruits? four-month training ends in October with a passing out ceremony. Those that survive will earn a beret, a much-deserved two week vacation, and the right to be called a soldier. Reporting for News Five, I am Kendra Griffith.?

If the recruits are successful in their first six weeks of training they receive two days off to visit with family and friends.