ABOUT THE BARBADOS CADET CORPS
The Barbados Cadet Corps is the oldest Cadet Corps in the region. The first unit of the Barbados Cadet Corps was formed at the Lodge School in 1904 and this was followed by the formation of companies at Harrison College and Combermere School.
In August 1978, cadets from Ellerslie Secondary were taken on strength as No 4 Company and by 1982 the Corps was expanded to 18 companies.
By 2010, companies were established at Deighton Griffith School, Lester Vaughan, Queen’s College and Alexandra School. Today the Corps comprises 24 units, 21 of these are in public secondary schools and one unit caters to private schools.
The Barbados Cadet Corps also has an Air Wing, a Sea Cadet Unit, a Cadet Corps Band, a Medical and a Shooting Unit.
Cadets may join the Corps as early as 13 years old and can remain until they are 20 years old, provided that they are in an educational institution. In that regard, there are cadets who attend the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic, the Barbados Community College and the University of the West Indies.
The mission of the Barbados Cadet Corps is to “use challenging activities and military discipline to create model citizens among a wide cross-section of young Barbadian boys and girls in educational institutions”. In addition to developing qualities of good citizenship, the Corps strives to give cadets an opportunity to learn skills that are useful throughout their adult life.
Command Element
Commandant
Commander David Dowridge
Deputy Commandant
Lieutenant Commander
Carl Farley
Carl Farley has spent more than thirty-one (31) years in various capacities in the petroleum industry. A former Science Teacher (Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics), Carl joined the staff of the Mobil Oil Barbados Refinery as Laboratory Supervisor in July 1986. To date, he has progressed through various positions in three (3) major petroleum organizations, namely the former Mobil Oil Corporation now ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and presently the Sol Group. In these organizations, major positions held included Planning and Production Manager (Mobil Oil), Health, Safety & Environment Advisor…
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.
