37 training as Reserve Officers of militia

Thirty-seven young Guyanese professionals, inclusive of 10 females and 27 males, commenced training on the Reserve Officer Course (ROC) on Friday.

According to the Guyana Defence Force in a Facebook post, this group of professionals comprises, but is not limited to, doctors, pilots, agriculturalists, teachers, and engineers. The medical profession is the best represented in this cohort.

At the conclusion of their training, the successful candidates will become Reserve Officers (ROs) within the Guyana People’s Militia (GPM).

As ROs, they will enhance the current pool of Reserve Officers already serving Guyana, and their professional skills will be utilised across all ten regions of Guyana.

The Guyana People’s Militia has been re-activated after almost 18 years of being disestablished.

This recruitment response and training are geared towards enlarging its complement of professionals who live and work all across Guyana, thus ensuring that Guyana has trained personnel who can and will respond, not only in a complimentary manner to the GDF, but also in relation to Disaster Risk Mitigation should the need arise.

The then Chief-of-Staff of the GDF, Brigadier Mark Phillips had explained that the ROs are like part-time soldiers. “The whole concept is to have a small regular army and a larger reserve that could augment the regular army,” he had explained.