Belize National Coast Guard celebrate eleventh anniversary

Posted: Saturday, November 26, 2016. 9:13 a.m. CST.

By BBN Staff: A ceremony was held yesterday to celebrate the Belize’s National Coast Guard’s 11th anniversary at the Coast Guard Headquarters on the George Price Highway just outside Belize City.

There was a guard of honor inspected by Governor General Sir Colville Young and a lineup of diplomats, government officials and other invited guests, including Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington.

Main speakers were Minister of Defense John Saldivar and Coast Guard Commander Admiral John Borland.

Saldivar stated, “The Ministry of Defence, the Government of Belize, we are all very proud of the outstanding achievements that this young but absolutely committed group of officers and sailors have attained in such a short time… Just 11 years old today; still a pre-teen organization. With limited resources, the Belize Coast Guard does an excellent job of patrolling and maintaining the integrity of Belize’s marine resources, and they continue to deliver and even surpasses expectations in the performance of their duties.”

Admiral John Borland, for his part, recounted and remarked, “We were a coastal operation and outfit. Now we’ve extended to the limits of our territorial seas and into the exclusive economic zone; a very potent and credible force that we believe is on par with any other force, sister force locally or in the region, and ready to conduct our missions and our mandates in providing the safety and security and protection of our sea spaces and the resources and personnel of this nation…Our plan is to grow the coast guard to a desired strength of 700.”

The event coincided with the opening of an obstacle course on the compound of the Coast Guard Headquarters. “We inaugurated our brand new first ever obstacle course. An obstacle course is developed by military organizations to instil discipline, confidence—it’s big on confidence, physical fitness being flexibility, speed, agility, endurance, upper body strength. These are all qualities that you need when you have to answer the call to go to battle some day in your career. Hopefully it never arises, but we must be prepared,” Admiral Borland explained.

Belize’s National Guard was established on November 28, 2005.

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