Regiment boss reads ‘riot act’ to soldiers

WHILE commending officers of the Trinidad and Tobago regiment for the tremendous accomplishments they have made in the six months since he took command, a stern Commanding Officer Colonel Edmund Dillon,  also sent a warning to his soldiers. He blasted those subordinates who, in  recent times, have been involved in several incidents of indisciplined behaviour that have been coming out of this country’s highest military arm.

“While I profoundly commend the majority of officers who continue to display dedication, commitment and loyalty to this organisation and country, there is a small percentage that puts us in a bad light ever so often. “I want to say, anyone found culpable of going against our core military, time-honoured values of discipline, integrity, mutual respect, loyalty and courage, will face the full brunt of military and civil law.” This comes in light of the Israeli-made, army issued high-powered Galil gun that went missing from one of the lockers of a recruit at Camp Ogden recently and several other incidents that were suppressed.

Dillon’s remarks were made last Friday afternoon at Army headquarters in Teteron during a parade to mark the 42nd anniversary of the TT Regiment. He identified some of the main areas of challenge which were overcome during the last six months — added accommodation, developmental training courses for all ranks and coping with a period of high operational tempo. The CO also commended officers for a successful 2004 Weapons Meet, establishing a Training Academy, which is now the envy of several Caribbean territories and development of two new battalions (engineering and support services) to assist in the development of the country.

Also coming in for high praise was the formation of the joint police/army patrols (JAP), the inter-agency task force (IATF) and the Special Forces Detachment. The reestablishment of the second-infantry battalion in South TT to focus mainly on protecting the energy sector also came in for high praise. Reaffirming his organsiation’s commitment to serve and protect TT, he called on his officers to re-dedicate themselves to the team that is the TT Regiment. CO Dillon promised the officers that his next challenge would be a review and upgrade of their remuneration packages.