Private Kimberley Keeps Boxing!
BDF Media Release| 18 September 20
Photography and Story credit: Featured Fridays BDF Media Team
Private Kimberley Gittens after graduating from the Coleridge and Parry School, enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force Sports Program (BDFSP) in February 2011, where she spent seven (7) years representing the BDFSP and Barbados in the discipline of Boxing. Patriotism and continued personal development led her to enlist in the Barbados Defence Force Full-time element in 2018, becoming a proud member of Recruit Intake 1/18.
Gittens is no stranger to the local and regional boxing-rings as she has now become jet-lagged with success having received numerous medals at such events. In the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, Gittens successfully held on to receive a bronze during her light welterweight fight against Mirquin Sena of the Dominican Republic. In 2019 Gittens successfully represented Barbados and the International Military Council Games (CISM) in China, where she represented Barbados Defence Force with pride.
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Now a full-timer in the BDF, Kimberley admits that her duty to the Force and country sometimes conflicts with her boxing training, but she is proud to state that to date, there has been a manageable balance and the BDF, in its strategic mandate to sport and youth development has installed measures to assist with her sporting endeavours. In mentioning her heartfelt thanks to the BDF for its sporting vision, Gittens admitted in a candid interview that she does not regret first enlisting with the BDFSP, due it being parallel with the discipline and values of the BDF. While she was unable to transfer her years of service in the BDFSP to the BDF, she confidently stated that she is yet comforted knowing that she still has the opportunity to attend and train for boxing engagements, while being a servicewoman.
In her own words Kimberley states that “boxing is very strenuous and time-consuming, you can’t take it lightly and if you don’t have a passion for it I would not advise you to join it”.
Private Gittens still has her sights her sights set on representing Barbados at the Olympics Games scheduled for July 2021. Her vision is to advance into general coaching or maybe technical coaching.
DID YOU KNOW?
Kimberly is a lover of dogs and has four and she also collects water bottles whenever she travels.
Commodore (Cdre) Errington Ricardo Shurland was appointed Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on 1 September 2021. He enlisted in the BDF in February 1984 and in a military career spanning over 34 years, has served in various operational and administrative appointments.
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.
