TCI Uniformed Officers travel for Training

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, August 5, 2022 – The TCIs military capacity continues to gain steam as the island seeks to build a coast guard and several TCI Regiment members were off island recently, upskilling at an Exclusive Economic Zone protection training course held last week in the Bahamas.

Caribbean nations have millions of square kilometers of territory to patrol because of their vast oceans. CARICOM states alone are responsible for 2.75 million square kilometres.

In addition the region “lies within a geographical zone that lies directly in the path of one of the most active international drug trades: between the world’s primary source of cocaine (the Andean Region of South America) and its primary consumer markets (the United States and Europe).”

The size of the ocean territory in the Caribbean is nearly as large as the land in the EU and small states struggle to patrol it making the course doubly important.

Bahamian Officials say the course was “ultimately geared towards working together to provide better regional security and safety throughout the region.”

Regiment officers had the opportunity to network with other defense professionals from Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cayman, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Kitts & Nevis, and the United Kingdom.

Information was also shared by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Royal Bahamas Police Force, Department of Marine Resources, Department of Immigration, Bahamas Customs, Port Department, and the Department of Environment.

Additionally ten Turks and Caicos Cadets attended a training camp in Cayman recently as part of the Cayman Islands National Cadet Corps Annual Summer Camp. For two weeks from July 2nd-16th July 2022 Cadets were trained in: Military Leadership; Drills; Map Reading and Orienteering; Skill at Arms; First Aid; Field Craft; Citizenship; Cadet and the Community and Physical Fitness.

All of which will help cadets qualify for their Two Star Army Proficiency Certificate which mandates over two years training and mastering several military skills.

The Cadet Corps and TCI Regiment were both lauded at a recent passing out parade for the work they do to protect the TCIs borders and develop its youth.