For the past year, Commander Gregory Soberanis, the second-most senior officer of the Belize Coast Guard, has been leading the organization as the Acting Commandant. He was filling in for Captain Elton Bennett, who went away to study at the Royal College of Defence Studies in England.
Captain Bennett was away from August 2020, up until the beginning of this month. He returned to Belize earlier this week, and tonight, he is back in his post as the #1 officer of the Coast Guard.
This afternoon, Captain Bennett granted 7News a sit-down interview, in which he discussed how his professional and educational development will assist in the running of the agency that must protect all of Belize's sea spaces. Here's what he had to say on that topic:
Captain Elton Bennett - Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"For the past year, I've been out on study [leave], attending the Royal College of Defense Studies in the United Kingdom. It's is a strategic level course, intended to prepare leaders for a challenging, strategic, and security environment. So, I had the opportunity to attend that course. It is one of those high-level courses, identified by militaries across the world as the course to prepare you for command and leadership as heads of departments, as head of services level. Nothing new for Belize. I'm actually the 5th Belizean to attend that. All of the previous commanders of the Belize Defense Force also went through that program. So, I'm just following suit. It really prepares you to understand the contemporary security environment and prepares you for leadership not only in your organization but across the full spectrum of government, again not only in the security environment but all those agencies that we complement, those agencies and government organizations that we support. So, it was really a good opportunity for me, as the Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, to have this opportunity. Education is something that is very important, that is always continuous, and at the Belize Coast Guard, we place a lot of emphasis on leadership. The Belize Coast Guard requires the commandant to be at the highest level he can reach, to ensure that the organization can benefit. So, in that regard, I as the Commandant was assigned to attend the Royal College of Defense Studies, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have done so. I'm not back at work, and I am very excited to be back."
When Captain Bennett left, the Barrow Government was still in office, and so, he has returned to find new civilian leaders who are now responsible for the Coast Guard. We asked him about that, and he said that the policy decisions from officials at the Ministry of National Defense and Border Security easily align with the 10-year strategic plan for the Coast Guard's growth and development. Here are those comments:
Captain Elton Bennett - Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"Now, understand that when I left, 12 months ago, it was a different government. I'm coming back into a new administration. So, for me, it's understanding what the new policy, in terms of defense and security, understanding what the new directives are, to ensure that I can balance the Coast Guard strategy and that I, as the Commandant, can get my strategy right, to ensure that it is aligned with the new administration. That's what I'm focusing on. I've met with the Ministers and CEO from the Ministry of Defense and Border Security. So, I understand what they want to achieve. It's just to ensure that my strategy is aligned and that I continue in that regard. There are areas that we want to focus on, developing new capabilities, some of which are already in the pipeline, and some that need to address. The first one is developing our blue water capability. You understand the limitations that we have in the Coast Guard in terms of vessels, our endurance, and our reach. We've had plans for some time now to acquire patrol boats that will be able to patrol our exclusive economic zone. That's what we're working on with our Ministry of Defense and Border Security, to ensure that whenever that time comes, that the Belize Coast Guard is on schedule, and prepared to develop that capability. And air capability is the second one that we want to focus on."
Reporter
"Have there been any instances where the plans clash? Or has it been easy to align them?"
Captain Elton Bennett
"I think it was easy to align, but there was an emphasis in certain areas, and one of the things the Minister pointed out to me was the emphasis he placed on morale and welfare. He's currently doing his tour. He went out to some of our stations very recently, with a focus on those issues, where we can look after welfare and morale. So, those are the things that I had to improve on in our strategy to ensure that this underpins everything that we do. We're very operational, but in everything that we do in operations, we need to have a good understanding of how that impacts morale and welfare."
