THE Guyana Defence Force has added 210 new soldiers to the force and the army’s Chief of Staff, Brigadier Patrick West, has urged them to continue to demonstrate that they are worthy of wearing the uniform of the Guyana Defence Force.

In a statement published on the Force’s facebook page, the passing out parade for this latest batch of entrants, which includes 52 females, was held at the Drill Square at the Colonel John Clarke Military School (CJCMS) at Tacama on Wednesday May 29, 2019.
The Chief of Staff outlined his list of expectations to the new soldiers and made clear to them, their mandate was to defend and serve. The Chief of Staff said, “You cannot therefore convert anything that you have learnt during training for use in criminal enterprises, be warned! we will deal condignly with you if you do,”
Further, the Chief of Staff noted that the soldiers were expected to uphold the five core values of the Force; Duty, Discipline, Identity, Integrity and Loyalty. He also charged the soldiers to take advantage of every learning opportunity that was available to them. To this end, he noted that the Force remains committed to providing each soldier with the opportunity to acquire academic education in addition to military skills so that when they leave the Force they would be able to maintain a good standard of living. “I charge you to quickly become familiar with and follow the standing operating procedures that govern every aspect of our military service. Know them, learn then, follow them,” he implored.

PTE Dexroy Sullivan was the Best Graduating Student of the course and the Runner-Up student was PTE Neshawn Barker. The prize for best fitness went to PTE Oniel Evans while the prize for Best Shot went to PTE Kwesi Lewis. PTE Shiana Lewis won the prize for Best Drill and PTE Leyanna Charles was adjudged the student with the Best Military Knowledge.