Ladies In Military Leadership featuring Sub-Lieutenant Karen Carvalho
BDF Media Release| 28 October 2020
Photography and Story credit: BDF Media & AB Bryan T
Sub-lieutenant (SLt) Karen Carvalho, born on 23 July 1978 attended the Pine Primary School before transitioning to the Garrison Secondary School. The proud mother of two, enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on 17 April 1999 and has served selflessly for the past twenty-one years after her posting to the Barbados Coast Guard (BCG), becoming its first female recruit.
SLt Carvalho is the holder of a Bachelors in Psychology with Honours, an associate degree in Psychology and a certificate in Management specializing in Human Resources. During her military career, she has attained the coveted enlisted rank of Chief Petty Officer before receiving the Queen’s Commission in 2018. SLt Carvahlo performs her secondary duty as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the country’s first female Prime Minister, the honourable Mia A. Mottley, Q.C, M.P. Karen sees this opportunity as extra-ordinary and she is pleasantly overwhelmed whenever she attends military ceremonial functions as ADC.
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She has performed various roles such as; Administrative Assistant, Engineering Clerk, Small Boat Flotilla (SBF) Coxswain, BCG Operation Centre Watch-keeper, BCG Adjutant Assistant and is currently posted as BCG Adjutant. She has also successfully completed several courses locally, regionally and internationally. Courses such as the VIP Close Protection, Courts Prosecutors’ Course, Basic Coxswains Course, Drill Instructors Course, Radio Operator’s course in Trinidad, the International Tactical Communications and International Maritime Officers Course both in the USA.
SLt Karen Carvahlo urges all females who are interested in joining the BDF, “to come with an open mind, prepare to put in maximum effort, see yourself as a member of a team and work towards the motto which says a Symbol of Excellence.”
Her current goals are to one day serve as the Force Adjutant and to be afforded the unique opportunity to work with the United Nations (U.N)
We salute you ma’am!!!
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.
