State Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Hon. Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn (left), shares a moment with Senior Medical Officer at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) Dr. Konrad Lawson prior to the start of the Healthcare Workers Appreciation Month badge-pinning ceremony at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) in downtown Kingston on Wednesday (July 13). The event, which recognised staff of KPH and VJH, was held to mark Healthcare Workers Appreciation Day.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) now has increased firefighting capacity in the Clarendon Division, says Assistant Commissioner, Andrew Russell.

Mr. Russell, who was speaking at the July 7 Disaster Preparedness Town Hall in Rocky Point, Clarendon, shared some of the added capabilities of the fire stations in the division.

“For general firefighting operations, we have strategically placed at the May Pen fire station a water tender containing 10,000 litres of water to provide support for firefighting, should there be a shortage of water in this particular area,” he noted.

“There is also the possibility of the fire department to lift water from the sea to assist us in our firefighting operation and this would be achieved through the use of two portable pumps that are available within the division,” Mr. Russell added.

Along with the water tender and portable pumps, he disclosed that the JFB recently acquired a dinghy for use in rescue operations during flooding.

The first round of training in specialist water rescue operations for firefighters has been completed. The JFB is aiming to have at least 50 per cent of the firefighters in the Clarendon Division trained in specialist water rescue operations by the end of August 2022.

Mr. Russell, who is also the Officer in Charge for Area III, shared that the JFB responded to close to 100 emergency calls from the general Rocky Point area and has plans to further strengthen its response capabilities in the parish.

“The JFB plans include the increase in the number of fire engines and the establishment of additional fire stations and also to increase the number of our firefighters, so that our operations can be more effective,” Mr. Russell said.

There are currently 73 full-time firefighters, with three fire engines, one of which is a brand-new unit, servicing the parish of Clarendon.

Office: 58a Half Way Tree Road, Kingston 10 Jamaica, W.I

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Initial Officer Training Programme (IOTP) provides basic military officer training to Officer Cadets (OCdts) and their equivalents from law enforcement and uniformed services. The programme falls within the tactical level of the Professional Military Education (PME) framework of armed forces and is modelled from the Royal Military Academy Sandhursts’ (RMAS) Commissioning Course.  It was designed with the direct support and guidance of RMAS Instructing and Support Staff.

Traditionally, the Jamaica Defence Force’s (JDF) longstanding partnerships with militaries across the world has seen its OCdts being trained in academies in the following countries: United States, England, Canada, China and India. Upon the return of OCdts to the JDF, there is a requirement for doctrine and operating procedure standardization due to the varying concepts and differing contents of the training they had undergone. This is normally done at the Unit level and later, through a Young Officers’ Course. The advent of COVID-19 added a new level of complexity to travel, thus negatively affecting the process of sending OCdts overseas. Additionally, the ongoing expansion and restructuring of the Force to cauterize the ballooning threats to national security has caused an increased demand for newly commissioned Second Lieutenants.

Due to the carefully adapted military and academic curricula, IOTP serves as the course to treat with the aforementioned considerations. The methodology used addresses each issue directly and the course, through the delivery of a bespoke training syllabus, is fit for the JDF and is also relevant to the militaries and organizations within the Caribbean region and in other parts of the world.

Having the RMAS approach to training at its core, IOTP is designed with a syllabus that sees male and female integration throughout training. The course focusses on developing military skills and command with a leadership ‘golden thread’. The course structure allows the Instructing Staff to educate, build, develop and scrutinize an OCdt’s ability to decide and communicate accurately and ethically while under pressure and or stress. The expectation is that on commissioning, an OCdt will be fully cognizant of the responsibilities and personal conditions that being an Officer imposes upon them. The product of the IOTP will be an ethical and robust Officer who has the knowledge, skills, attitudes and intellectual agility to adapt their decision-making process and approach to any environment.

The home of IOTP is the Caribbean Military Academy (CMA) Newcastle, which is located at the Newcastle Hill Station, St Andrew, Jamaica.

Nestled in the cool hills of upper St Andrew and amidst beautiful trees, ferns, ground orchids, delicate wild flowers and a profusion of ginger lilies, is the Newcastle

Training Depot founded in 1841 by Major General Sir William Maynard Gomm (later Field Marshall). Gomm, a veteran of the wars against revolutionary France and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica from 1840 to 1841, relentlessly badgered the War Office in London to establish a mountain station for British soldiers in Jamaica soon after taking up his post.

The idea of the hill station was first raised by Gomm in a letter dated April 7, 1840 to Governor Sir Charles Metcalfe. Gomm pointed out that while Up Park Camp was an ideal location for a barracks, it was subject to the ravages of yellow fever. In Jamaica the

British garrison was stationed on the plain at Up Park Camp, Stony Hill, Fort Augusta and Port Royal. Here, on the average, 1 soldier died every 2½ days. According to Russell, the year 1838 was considered a ‘good’ year: only 91 men died. In 1839, 110 men perished and in the following year 121. Initially, the British government was conservative in approving a hill station for the troops in Jamaica. They were concerned about the expense of the venture.

In May 1841, London finally sanctioned Gomm’s efforts to build what is thought to be the first permanent mountain station in the British West Indies at Newcastle. The site selected was a coffee plantation protruding from the southern face of the grand ridge of the Blue Mountains. The British government paid £4,230 for the Newcastle site.

At the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), life at Newcastle changed a little. The British regiment was replaced by Canadian regiments which remained at Newcastle for the duration of the war. With hostilities over in 1945, the Canadians left and once again a British battalion was stationed there.

In 1958, the West Indies Federation was founded and the infantry regiments of the various Caribbean islands were disbanded and reorganized into the West India Regiment. Newcastle became a training depot, training recruits from all over the West Indies as part of the

newly formed West Indies Federation. In 1962 when Federation was disbanded, the West India Regiment was also disbanded. Jamaica simultaneously sought her independence, which was achieved on August 6, 1962. With independence, Newcastle was given to the Jamaican government as part of a general settlement of all military lands in Jamaica.