LANCS SOLDIERS SCHOOL BELIZE DEFENCE FORCE

Mandatory photo credit: Corporal Max Bryan RLC.

 

Pictured: A Belize Defence Force (BDF) is reacts to simulated enemy fire whilst being mentored by a British Army instructor during a lesson to BDF troops at Hattieville Training Area on 22 May 2016.

 

Soldiers from the North West of England have been in Central America passing on training techniques to their counterparts in the Belize Defence Force.

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Personnel from the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancasterâs Regiment are helping the BDF ensure its future junior leaders become great trainers in their own right.

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Working out of British Army Training Support Unit Belize at the countryâs Price Barracks, and nearby Hattieville Ranges, staff from 2 LANCS Dettingen Company delivered patrol tests, navigation skills and mapping techniques to 36 BDF soldiers each with the potential to become a junior non-commissioned officers (JNCO). But all that was secondary to ensuring the soldiers learn how to teach their skills to others.

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Captain Danny Shal, from the BDF training team, said: âThis is where it all starts for them; where we teach them things they need to know as soldiers. It is the start of a career path that could take any of them to the role of Sergeant Major.â

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Demand to get on the British-run course was high â 50 applicants were turned away. Captain Rogelio Ramirez, Officer Commanding the BDFâs Training Company, explained why: âWe have a lot of partner nations who come and assist us with training, but our doctrine is based on the British Armyâs so your training is relevant to what we do. Also, because of the operational commitments your guys have done, we are now seeing how that doctrine needs to be updated.â

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The work takes places in humid conditions and temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. Lt Josh Sanders, the 2 LANCS officer in command of the training team, said: âThe standards we expect from the BDF candidates are exactly those we would expect if we were running this for our own soldiers in the UK. What weâve been able to deliver here has exceeded our expectations because we share the same basic Army doctrines.â

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Brigadier General David Jones, Commander of the BDF, has worked hard since his appointment in 2012 to strengthen the military links between the two nations. Through his meetings with senior British Army staff and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, British Army training programmes are now being re-established in Belize.

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Brig Jones said: âWe have a lot of operational tasks that we have to maintain. The best way we can achieve success in those is by giving our soldiers the best training opportunities, and I believe those are through the British Army. Our soldiers have been instructed by our own JNCOs, but the instruction they get from the British is different; the British have served in different operations and conflicts to our personnel and their experience is what we need. Our soldiers enjoy this training, they say itâs very professional and theyâd like more of it.â

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As a result of this early success, further British Army supported courses are planned for later this year and 2017.

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Capt Ramirez concluded: âItâs very beneficial for our soldiers to be working with the British but itâs also beneficial for the British too: we offer great experience of operating in the jungle â even the most junior soldier has been posted there.â So, while the eight-strong 2 LANCS Dettingen Company training team are carrying out their teaching role, 120 of their colleagues from the battalionâs Blenheim Company are undergoing their own five week tropical test â learning jungle warfare techniques from the BDF trainers.

 

 

NOTE TO DESKS:

All images remain Crown Copyright.

Photo credit to read - Corporal Max Bryan RLC.

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