Celebrating 38 Years of Strength Through Unity
BDF Media Release| 30 October 2020
Photography and Story credit: BDF Media Team
Thirty-eight years ago today, four OECS countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Barbados signaling the creation of the Regional Security System, the most successful security alliance in the history of the modern Caribbean. At that time Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados agreed to provide mutual assistance on request to respond to the security challenges of that period. By 1985, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis joined as well. In the nearly 4 decades since then, the RSS has evolved significantly and today still represents an effective, relevant and respected defence and security mechanism. The MOU was upgraded to a treaty in 1996.
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Today (29 October 2020) we acknowledge the visionary wisdom and thank the architects of the RSS for their leadership and determination in creating, building and developing the RSS as an operational entity that upholds its Member States values and defends and secures their collective and interdependent interests. We also recognize and thank all those who have served the alliance over the years, through its 10 Member States’ Forces. Appreciation is also extended to the RSS’ strategic partners – nation states, agencies and organisations, regionally and worldwide.
Congratulations to the Executive Director, the staff of the Headquarters of the RSS and to all military and police personnel of the Member States Forces who currently serve, having taken the proverbial baton from the generation prior. BDF continues to recognize the RSS’ worth and fully accepts the responsibility to serve through the strength of unity.
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.
