About Us
BARBADOS DEFENCE FORCE
ABOUT THE BARBADOS DEFENCE FORCE
The Barbados Defence Act (1979) created a body of Her Majesty’s forces to be known as the Barbados Defence Force consisting of a regular Force; a reserve Force to be known as the Barbados Defence Force Reserve; and a Cadet Force.
The Force is structured as follows:
- Headquarters Barbados Defence Force
- The Barbados Regiment, the land forces element of the Force made up of regular and reserve subunits
- The Barbados Coast Guard, the maritime element of the Force made up of regular and reserve subunits.
- The Youth Development Wing, which comprises the Barbados Cadet Corps and the Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme
The Barbados Defence Force is responsible for the defence of Barbados and such other duties as the Defence Board determines. The Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force is, subject to the directions of the Governor-General, responsible for the operational use of the Force, but the Prime Minister may, where no directions have been given by the Governor-General, give to the Chief of Staff directions with respect to the operational use of the Barbados Defence Force in Barbados for the purposes of maintaining and securing public order and public safety, as the Prime Minister thinks fit; and the Chief of Staff shall comply with those directions.
The BDF is totally committed to assisting with national development, particularly through the training of the nation’s youth. To this end, the command and training of the units of the Barbados Cadet Corps are the responsibility of the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Barbados Defence Force who are posted or attached therefor to the Cadet Corps.
Although there is a large degree of specialisation within the Force, all ranks are trained in a common set of core disciplines which enables them to function in the many roles assigned to the Force.
The BDF is frequently engaged in humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations in addition to providing assistance to the Civil Power and Civil Ministries, along with performing its ceremonial duties. As a member of the Regional Security System (RSS), the BDF has rendered assistance during the Grenada intervention in 1983, in response to the Jama’at al-Muslimeen coup in Trinidad in 1990 and between 1994 and 1996 in Haiti. The Force also assisted Jamaica in 1988, Montserrat 1989 and Grenada in 2004 during the aftermath of hurricanes Gilbert, Hugo and Ivan respectively. More recently the Force conducted disaster relief operations to Dominica in 2015 and 2017 in the aftermath of the passage of Tropical Storm Erica and Hurricane Maria respectively.
Command Element
Chief of Staff
Commodore Errington R. Shurland
Commodore (Cdre) Errington Shurland enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force in February 1984.
He is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, United Kingdom and the Command and General Staff College of the United State Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Cdre Shurland holds two significant appointments and portfolios within the Caribbean Region. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force on 1 September 2021 and and also serves as the Executive Director of the Regional Security System from 1 February 2017. During his career in the military Cdre Shurland has served in several operational and administrative posts.
Deputy Chief of Staff
Commander Aquinas Clarke
Commander Aquinas Joseph Clarke joined the regular Force on 1 Jul 93. He received his early education at the St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School and the Louis Lynch Secondary School (formerly the Roebuck Secondary School). After leaving secondary school he attended the Barbados Community College and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Campus.Commander Clarke enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force on 1 Sep 91 as a member of the Barbados Defence Reserve and transferred to the regular Force on 1 Jul 93, on completion of his academic studies at the Barbados Community College.He successfully completed basic officers’ training at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM), UK in 1994. In 2001 he attended junior staff training at the Caribbean Junior Command and Staff College in Jamaica where he was awarded top student…
Force Sergeant Major
Master Chief Petty Officer 1
Austin Howell
Master Chief Petty Officer Class 1 Austin R Howell was born on 10 October 1970 and joined the reserve element of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) in September 1987. He recruited and was transferred to the full-time element of the BDF in September 1989 and was posted to the then Commando Squadron at Paragon Base. He was promoted to the rank of lance corporal in December 1992, to the rank of corporal in August 1995; to the rank of sergeant in December 1999; to the rank of Chief Petty Officer in August 2007, to the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer Class 2 in August 2013 and Master Chief Petty Officer Class 1 in April 2017…
Commodore (Cdre) Errington Shurland enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force in February 1984.
Colonel Glyne Grannum joined the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on 18 October 1985 and underwent career development training at the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School, Chilliwack and the Combat Training Centre, Gagetown New Brunswick, Canada. He subsequently attended the Infantry Training Centre and the Signal Wing in Warminster, UK (PCBC and RSO Courses respectively), the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy; the Lester Pearson Canadian Peacekeeping Centre, the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College, Kingston, the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, Toronto, the National Defence University of the People’s Liberation Army People’s Republic of China and the Centre for Hemispheric Defence Studies, National Defence University, Washington. He also attended a Defence Resources Management programme at National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa, Canada. In addition to being a qualified infantry officer, Col Grannum is a qualified Regimental Signals Officer and a former Operations Officer and Finance Officer of the BDF.
Colonel Banfield joined the Barbados Battalion of the South Caribbean Force in 1941 having just left the Cadet Corps at Combermere School, and was granted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1942. He was a Platoon Commander and a Company Commander during the war and served in Barbados, Dominica (as part of the Gale Force), St Lucia and St Vincent.
Warrant Officer Class 1 Colin Marshall is a graduate of the St Michael, and was born on the 5 November 1969 and enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force on 16 August 1994. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal in August 1997, Corporal in 1999, Sergeant in 2007, Color Sergeant in 2014, Warrant Officer Class Two in 2017 and Warrant Officer Class One in 2020. He was Most Outstanding Student on Junior Leadership Course in 1998, the Most Outstanding Student on Junior Non Commissioned Officer Cadre in Jamaica in 2000, best at Leadership on the Search Adviser Course in Jamaica in 2007 and the Most Outstanding Student on the Warrant Officer Course in Jamaica in 2015.
