It used to be a staple of the September celebrations but it fell to the wayside. But now the annual military tattoo is making a comeback, playing to large crowds eager to see the BDF, Police and Fire Service display their skills and tactics. Today we visited for a practice session at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex and found the men of the armed services in high and familiar form. Alfonso Noble reports.
[Mock Riot Squad Confrontation]
The scenes are now all too familiar of rioters clashing with law enforcement personnel....and while today it seemed like it was April on Albert Street all over again, what you are seeing are the final preparations being made for tomorrow evening's Fire Service, Police and Military Tattoo.
Col. Reuel Black, BDF
"You're going to be seeing a riot. You didn't see the full riot at this time because of course it's a rehearsal and we don't want anybody to get injured. Tomorrow we can take more risks about injures and things like that. So they were stoning at the Police and BDF at this time but definitely tomorrow you will be seeing the soldiers acting as real civilians; actual riot drills as the civilians know to do it. It will be nothing like Albert Street though. We are preparing for tomorrow's event, the main event, which is the Military and Police and Fire Service Tattoo which will be taking place at 6 in the evening. The gates open at 5 and we're doing a rehearsal to iron out the small problems so that tomorrow everything works like clockwork."
And if we were to judge from today's preparations of soldiers conducting physical training, the Police and BDF riot squads clashing with role players or even the rappelling you know that tomorrow will be full of entertainment. According to Colonel Reuel Black that is the point of the exercises.
Col. Reuel Black,
"The point is to entertain the general public during the September celebrations and the other thing is to show them the skills that they are paying us for. We need to be highly trained to do these type of work and we are showing them that we are."
The tattoo starts off at 5 tomorrow evening at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex.
