The Belize Defense Force today graduated 62 new soldiers. It took 19 weeks of combat, jungle tactics and survival training. And they also learned how to parade. And that's what they displayed today in a passing out ceremony. 7NEWS was at Price Barracks.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
With defenders flying in formation, an inspection of the guard of honor, and parade displays, intake number 48 officially became soldiers of the Belize Defense Force. Addressing the 62 new soldiers; two of them women, Minister of Defense Cordel Hyde warned them of the imperfect world they step in to serve.
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Minister of Defense
"They will have to contend with a Belize that is far from perfect, where the wealth is not properly divided and the hope we have always enjoyed is shrinking. They will have to contend with a world taken up with materialistic things, consumed with a get rich or die mentality. They will have to contend with a world devoid of spiritual depth but steep in matters of the flesh. And so they will have to be even more patient and cooler and more collected as all around them, things are falling apart."
And while these soldiers step in to serve in a world falling apart, Hyde thanked them for braving the threats to be a part of the country's Belize Defense Force.
Hon. Cordel Hyde,
"We take things for granted in this country. The peace and freedoms we enjoy everyday; to go to work without fear that we may be blown up some day, the freedom to do most of what we want to do on any given day. Many countries and their people don't enjoy and so it is that we must be thankful for these small mercies and we must be properly thankful for the work the BDF does. I just have to say congratulations and thank you. Thank you for agreeing to serve in a time when many people are taken up with serving themselves. Thank you for agreeing to put your lives on the line in a time when many people are taken up expending their lives. Thank you for doing what you are doing."
And as Hyde thanked the 62 new men and women who've now joined the ranks of the BDF he also commended the 21 jungle instructors those who graduated from the jungle instructor's warfare course and in particular the family members of Sgt. Ramon Aguilar who famously survived 9 days in the jungle.
Hon. Cordel Hyde,
"I want to use this opportunity to say how proud and moved we are by the spirit and faith of Mrs. Lorna Aguilar, the wife of the Sergeant and the rest of the Aguilar family. Their courage in a week when most of us would have cowered was an inspiration to all of us. Only God knows how the Sergeant survived and when we look at his family, we can see why he had to survive. You are a blest young man Sgt. Aguilar, you are truly blest."
Blessed indeed since he today proved that as he was able to receive his graduation papers and run off the square.
Graduating from the jungle instructors course were 2 Members of the Police Department, 1 Salvadoran, 2 Taiwanese, one Jamaican and 16 Belizean soldiers.
