Colonel Alvin Quintyne, BSS, JP, LOM
Colonel Quintyne enlisted in the Barbados Regiment in 1976 and later transferred to the Barbados Defence Force on its establishment as a full-time military force in August 1979. He served as a junior enlisted rank and attained the rank of Corporal. In August 1980 he attended Basic Officer’s Training in Canada and graduated from the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School in August 1981. On 15 August 1981, he was granted a Queen’s Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Element of the Barbados Defence Force.
Since commissioning, he rose through the ranks of the Officers’ Corps attaining promotions to the rank of Lieutenant in September 1983, Captain in September 1984, Major in June 1989, Lieutenant Colonel in February 1996 and Colonel in September 2003.
Colonel Quintyne has held several command, staff and operational appointments in the Barbados Defence Force. Foremost among his many operational deployments was Operation “URGENT FURY”, the US-led intervention in Grenada in October 1983. He commanded and led the Barbados Defence Force’s contingent to Trinidad and Tobago in the aftermath of the coup attempt in 1990 and in November 1994 he commanded and led a Regional Security System combined military and police contingent to restore peace and order after the prison uprising in St Kitts & Nevis.
Colonel Quintyne is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Staff School, the Canadian Land Forces Command and General Staff College and National Defence University in Washington D.C.
Colonel Quintyne served as Barbados’ Defence Attaché to the Embassy of Barbados in Washington, D.C. during the period 2000-2002 and assumed command of the Defence Force on September 2003.
Colonel Quintyne has been awarded the Barbados Service Star, the General Service Medal, the Regional Security System Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, a Defence Board Commendation, the Service Medal of Honour and the Legion of Merit, the highest military honour awarded by the US Department of Defence to foreign military personnel.
Colonel Quintyne and his wife are the proud parents of two sons and one daughter