GDF officers complete training

 

Georgetown : Senior and junior command courses of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) which were completed at Camp Stephenson recently are expected to boost the Command and Staff functions in the force.  
The GDF in a release stated that one Major and 19 Captains completed the Senior Command and Staff Course number 11, with Captain Sheldon Howell of the 31 Special Forces Unit emerging the Best Graduating Student with Captain Joslyn Assanah of Air Corps taking the  runner-up position. For producing the best Service Paper, Major Hollice Cumberbatch gained the award. 
Nine Lieutenants completed the Junior Command and Staff Course number 23, with Lieutenant Budeshwar Persaud of the First Infantry Battalion copping the Best Graduating Student award.  Lieutenant Damon Joseph of Air Corps secured the runner-up position and the award for the course’s best service essay.

The release quoted Lieutenants Persaud and Joseph as saying that the volume of reading required was the most challenging feature, particularly in the context of the time frame required, assignments and other activities. They said the learning environment required that they rely on their peers which were good for sustaining morale.
Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best while congratulating the officers at the closing today, encouraged them to remember that training is an ongoing process and to “…transition from students to effective leaders…” “You must be leaders in and out of the work environment,” he said. “Be confident in yourselves and lead with passion,” he charged. 
The release stated that “the SCSC, the higher level course, was designed to produce officers who can function in command and staff appointments, perform as Grade 2 Staff Officers at brigade or unit headquarters level, or perform as commanders of a battalion or equivalent unit in the conduct of full spectrum operations in the contemporary operating environment in the GDF. The functions of these Officers who operate at a level between the Force’s high command and the junior officers, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers and soldiers, are therefore critical to the implementation and support of policies meant to drive objective-realisation in every sphere of the Force.” 
On the other hand, the JCSC is designed to train officers to function as Junior Commanders and Junior Staff Officers, perform as Unit Commanders of a Company or Perform as Grade 3 Staff Officers at battalion level or equivalent sub-unit.