Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Edward Collins yesterday told the opening of the Army Officers Conference that all of the hard work of the joint services would come to naught if they did not recover the stolen AK-47 rifles which were spirited out from Camp Ayanganna last year.
Being held under the theme ‘Staying resolutely on course to enhance national security and development’ the conference will examine among other things the army’s operation and training, accomplishments and setbacks over the year in review.
It is around a year since the GDF announced that 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols went missing from its headquarters on Thomas Lands. Although some of the weapons were recovered significant numbers of them are still unaccounted for and up to now no one has been held responsible for the theft of the weapons.
Collins told the officers that in the past year they focused more on their subsidiary role of internal security than their primary role of border defence. He said this was marked by a very high operational tempo occasioned by the theft of the weapons.
The Chief of Staff said that the exercise launched to recover the weapons, ‘Operation Ferret’, with its subsidiary operation ‘Centipede’ now in its 367th day is by any comparison the longest operation ever conducted by the joint services. “But it is worth every ounce of our operational energy and effort,” Collins asserted. He noted that operating out of Buxton, the operation has brought a dramatic change to the security landscape of that village once known only as a haven for bandits. “The photograph of the first sitting in the heart of that village has spoken a thousand words and this year’s Mashramani revellers taking to its streets must be quite illustrative,” Collins remarked.
The Chief-of-Staff noted that out of ‘Operation Ferret’ other operations were conducted. One of these was in response to the robbery of two commercial banks in Rose Hall, Corentyne last year. Collins mentioned that resulting from that operation a large portion of the stolen money was recovered. He said that ‘Operation Ferret’ flowed into the unprecedented ‘Operation Flexus’ which ensured there was a safe and secure environment during last year’s general and regional elections. He also mentioned the joint services’ operations launched earlier this year to recapture nine prisoners who had escaped from the Mazaruni Prison and also for the just-concluded Rio Summit.
“All of this is testimony to the hard work of the joint services, but all of this would be set at naught if we do not recover our weapons,” Collins declared.
He told the officers that finding the weapons must remain on their operational radar and their intelligence must accelerate its rebuilding process.
“I know these things take time since invariably it has to do with trust, but we must continue to use whatever means available to us,” Collins declared, adding that was an order and in recovering the weapons the end must justify the means.
Joint Services
Collins told the officers that during last year they had witnessed a growing cohesiveness among the joint services evolving to a point of enhanced operational effectiveness. He said sticking together is not only a useful deduction, but also a national security imperative.
“Whether there are negating factors endogenous to the joint services or exogenous influences acting on our togetherness, nothing must be allowed to fracture this relationship,” Collins remarked. He said the strength of the Joint Services is derived from the strength of each of its component parts, which is the strength of each service.
For the GDF, Collins said their successes were built in part on a foundation of teamwork and good leadership especially at the junior level. Brigadier Collins said that in adversity, it was not some distant ideal or vision that gave the individual the courage to overcome their fear or the strength to keep going, but the strong mutual bonds of trust and the need not to let one another down. Collins remarked that these bonds are built on the foundation of the army’s core values which are about operational effectiveness. In that light, he called on commanders at all levels to continue to embody these core values and the tenets of being officers if the army is to maintain strong cohesive teams that are able to cope with the pressures they experienced last year and will continue to face in future operations.
Collins said that for this year the army will ensure that the secure and stable security environment that was created last year continues uninterrupted and this will be achieved by the continued execution of operations on land and water.
He noted that just as how the force remained undaunted in 2006 by the theft of the weapons and strove manfully to recover them while at the same time ensuring internal stability, so it will continue this year to carry out its operations to ensure that high-profile security activities such as the Cricket World Cup take place in a climate that is free from fear.
Collins told his officers that apart from assisting in the maintenance of internal stability, the force will also continue to execute another of its core functions with the manning of the country’s border locations so as to be in a position to counter aggression by any other state.
Training
The Chief-of-Staff said that despite the numerous operations the army conducted training for 376 officers and ranks while the other technical units and departments such as the Engineering Corps and Medical Corps trained 322 persons. Additionally, 29 officers and 39 other ranks attended institutions of higher learning while 46 officers and nine other ranks attended training at overseas institutions. Collins noted that for the current year, the GDF’s Training Corps would continue the upgrading of the professional military education of all officers and other ranks and this will be done both externally and internally. He noted also that the army will continue to subscribe to a number of overseas military training courses for ranks, which will not only expose the GDF to much needed training, but also validate their professionalism when they perform exceptionally.
In the area of administration, Collins said that it was for good reasons that the conference was being held after the national budget was read, for it would have been an exercise in folly were they to be planning for the future when they did not know how their plans would be funded. He said such issues as the state of the force’s stocks of communication and information technology equipment, building and transportation as well as the fate of their strategic assets, air and maritime, would be addressed.
The Chief-of-Staff said that this year the force’s administrative focus will be to optimize the efficiencies at every level and this will be pursued where necessary by upgrading their standard operating procedures (SOPs) and ensuring adherence to them.
Collins further stated that the centre of the force is its leadership. He said that given the paucity of equipment the other tools of their trade must come from sound leadership by officers. “Every year we gather at an officers conference to review the collective performance of the force, but I posit that it is time we each do an assessment of our own performance – a time for introspection,” Collins urged.
He said it was time they examine themselves to see where their leadership shortcomings are and make a conscious effort to remedy them. Collins urged his charges that as they ponder and deliberate on the year that has passed, they must also take notice that over time much has changed. He mentioned that the political landscape has been transformed, technology has advanced, the national stock of housing and other construction works have grown at an ever-increasing rate and society’s norms have also shifted. “The GDF has to respond to these changes and rightly so, for not to have done so would have spelt failure.”
The conference is expected to address the global security situation in which national, regional, international and global perspectives are considered. In this regard, consideration would be given to the threat of terrorism and the traditional and changing roles of the military in national security.