July 2002

• Jamaican Troops Return From Training In The United Kingdom

• A Softer Side of the Military

• 3JR Dominated Football Competition

• For the Love of The Game

• SNCO Cadre 0201 Passes Off The Square

• Grand June Ball

Jamaican Troops Return From Training In The United Kingdom

A contingent of 130 soldiers returned to Jamaica on Sunday having recently completed four weeks of intensive and specialized training in the United Kingdom, bringing to an end Exercise Red  Stripe/Calypso Hop 2002.

Exercise Red Stripe / Calypso Hop is an annual training exchange between the British Army and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). The exchange involve approximately 280 soldiers, with each country deploying a company level group of up to 120 soldiers and an additional 20 personnel for special training attachments. This year’s exercise took place over the period 21 April to 30 June 2002.
“It was time well spent,” said Major Derrick Robinson as he sums up his views of Exercise Calypso Hop, for which he was the Contingent Commander.

“It was good. I did lots of house clearing drills and FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Area) training, said Private Kevin Dawes of the 1st Battalion The Jamaica Regiment. “I enjoyed myself. I got time to go sightseeing and visit family, he continued smiling as he spoke. But the weather was freezing. I had to bathe in hot and cold water, he said still smiling brightly.

Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, answering questions from the British media during the Visitors’ Day program of Exercise Red Stripe 2002.

Exercise Calypso Hop is the overseas leg of the exchange involving a composite company group of JDF and CARICOM soldiers going to the United Kingdom for training. The Jamaican contingent hosted by the British Army is able to experience training in a temperate environment and utilize the various Electronic Target Ranges and FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Area) villages. The advanced facilities afford the soldiers the opportunity to be better trained for IS operations and operations in urban communities.

Eleven of the personnel who made up the contingent for Exercise Calypso Hop 2002 were participants from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. The Jamaican contingent was hosted by First Battalion Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment ( 1RGBW) at Longmoor Training Camp, Hants, UK, from 02 –30 June 2002.

Visitors’ Day program during Exercise Red Stripe 2002, when specially invited guests and members of the British and Jamaican media were able to view the British soldiers training activities.

Exercise Red Stripe is the local phase of the exchange where a company group from the British Army conducts training in the semi-jungle, tropical environs of Portland and accompanying British instructors conduct short specialist courses with the JDF.   This year the British troops were drawn from the First Battalion Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment based at Hounslou, UK. Following a prolonged Internal Security (IS) deployment in Northern Ireland, the Battalion was being reassigned and their training in Jamaica was geared towards their new operational tasking. They also conducted specialist training courses for selected members of the JDF and the Jamaica Constabulary Force. The British troops operated from the Old Titchfield Hotel in Port Antonio and were in Jamaica from 21 April to 26 May 2002.