Barbados Defense Forces

March 22 - I visited two of the three Barbados Defense Force installations today as a guest of Colonel Alvin Quintyne, Chief of Staff of the BDF. The visit was arranged by Rotarian Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Willie Kriton, the former deputy chief of staff of the BDF.

First stop - the Barbados Coast Guard. The BCG has three (two shown here) new 140-foot patrol craft housed at a new facility, HMBS Pelican to complement its small fleet of rigid hull inflatables and smaller harbor patrol craft. The vessels are used for drug interdiction, coastal defense and search and rescue. The 200 strong force appears well-trained and disciplined.

The commander of the coast guard is Lieutenant Commander Sean Reece, a graduate of the US Army parachute school at Fort Benning, and participated with US forces in the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

We then toured the BDF headquarters facility at Saint Ann's Fort in Bridgetown. The land forces regiment, formerly part of the West Indies Regiment of the British Army, has fought around the world. It also participated in the 1983 U.S.-led invasion of Grenada.

The "Pentagon" equivalent - the headquarters of the BDF staff.

The command post and operations building. In national emergencies, this is where the coordination between agencies occurs.

Medical unit - also supports civilian medical emergencies, mass casualty events in the Caribbean and is deployable to other nations if needed...

...and has a new hyperbaric chamber, one of only a very few in the region. Patients are brought here from other Caribbean countries for treatment.

Heading up the hill to the old signal area and Officers Mess for lunch with the officers where I made a presentation on issues in the Middle East.

Rick Francona