TWO GUYANA Defence Force Officers recently returned from overseas having completed tertiary training in India and the United States. Lieutenant Coast Guard, Roger Nurse graduated Best Student at the Masters Level in Computer Science at the University of Pune, India  where he attended from 2007-2010. This institution is one of India’s premier universities and is popularly known as the ‘Oxford of the East’.
The officer, who has been a member of the Force for the last nine years, stated that even though the programme was purely academic, his training has given him the ability to convert his knowledge into designing projects which would be useful to the continued development of the GDF.
While attending the university he also completed research projects in Data Mining with reference to Elections Predictions,Computer Architecture and Image Processing.
The officer related that he was privileged to have experienced a new culture and also lauded the quality of the education system in India.
“Once I became acclimatized to the culture everything else unfolded. As an individual, this milestone has taken me further along my path to achieving a PhD at some point in my life, thus being of greater service to the GDF and my country,” Lieutenant Nurse asserted.
“I am extremely appreciative to the Government of Guyana, through the Public Service Ministry, which, in collaboration with the Indian government, made this opportunity available to me and to the GDF for facilitating my further studies,” he stated.
Lieutenant Nurse had graduated back in 2005 from the United States Coast Guard Academy with high honours in a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Operations Research and Electrical Engineering.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Cedric Fraser was privileged to undergo his Officer Cadet training at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The institution is a premier leading development institution, and it develops cadets intellectually, militarily, ethically, spiritually and socially.
Lieutenant Fraser’s training was of a military and academic nature, which resulted in his attaining a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management with a Minor in Systems Engineering.
Lieutenant Fraser said the military aspect of his training was done at the US Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia and covered several aspects including Cadet Basic Training, Cadet Field Training and advanced training courses in airborne, air assault and Cadet Leadership development training.
During his years of study, he was also active in the sport of Boxing and won the heavyweight title at the National Championships of the National Collegiate Boxing Association.
“It was a challenge to manage the academic workload with the physical demands of the course, but in the end it is all rewarding,” Fraser noted.
“My down period was when both my parents passed away, one at the beginning of my training and the other when I was almost complete, but I persevered. It was challenging too to cope with the cultural differences,” he added.
The Officer also stated that he was grateful for the opportunity to do his training overseas and believes that his exposure could help him to contribute a different perspective to training in the Force.
Lieutenant Fraser is the third officer to have graduated from West Point Academy, the first two having done so in the early 1970s.
Over the years the GDF has sent officers for training at all the US Service academies – the West Point Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy.
Both Lieutenant Coast Guard Roger Nurse and Lieutenant Cedric Fraser are attached to Defence Headquarters, Base Camp Ayanganna.
The Chief of Staff on behalf of officers and other ranks extend congratulations to the two officers for a job well done.