Email

Print

We normally associate the Belize Defense Force with heavy m16 rifles but 29 soldiers have been trained in martial arts combat. They are Belize’s first group of karate soldiers. And we were at Price Barracks this morning for their graduation.

With moves like this…and moves like that….these 27 men and two women may look like karate champions. But in reality they are Belize Defense Force soldiers who graduated today from the 7 week Taekwondo training course.

Brig. Gen. Dario Tapia, BDF Commander
“The purpose of the training is to teach our soldiers the art of unarmed combat.”

At the head of the class is Sgt. Ben Aba, a 16 year veteran.

Sgt. Ben Aba, Graduate
“Military training is very intensive but this one was super intensive because everyday for like three hours straight it was work work work, sometimes three and a half hours. Very intensive and barely any break in between.”

Keith Swift,
“How do you see this helping you as a soldier?”

Sgt. Ben Aba,
“When you deal with civilians especially or what you call escalation of force, it starts from minimal force to maximum force and this is in the range of minimal force and if you are not careful it can become very deadly.”

Private Austin Gillett Jr. says it will also help him. He has only been on the job for six months.

Pte. Austin Gillett, Graduate
“The training when you are joining BDF as recruit is very difficult training for four months. You can’t compare the two. To be real, the first week was the hardest part, the first week. The first six days.”

Keith Swift,
“What was the best part?”

Pte. Austin Gillett,
“The best part is today.”

And that is because today – Private Gillett and these other soldiers graduated from the 7 week Taekwondo training course. They were trained in the basics of chinna which is martial arts combat by Sgt. Majors Che-Lien Wei and A-Ming Huang from Taiwan’s military police.

Sgt. Mjr. Che-Lien Wei, Instructor
”During the seven weeks the instructors taught the soldiers taekwondo, judo, weapon disarmament and self-defence. The human body is a weapon already so we practiced martial arts combat in case something like on the border and you meet some army or bandits and you need self-defence."

BDF Commander General Dario Tapia says there are times when a soldier won’t need to or won’t have access to a weapon.

Brig. Gen. Dario Tapia,
“How they can meet an adversary and win, it would seem that they would have the disadvantage but the outcome can be to their advantage. Generally it is to show them the art of unarmed combat and taekwondo.”

Joseph Shih, Taiwanese Ambassador
“This is not only to build up their skills and give them confidence but I think what’s most important is our joint commitment to maintain peace and prosperity to our society.”

Brig. Gen. Dario Tapia,
“There are occasions that you will run out of ammunition and which we call close quarter battles which at the end of the day it will be your arms to be able to continue fighting. It is not all about ammunition because when you are in a situation and ammunition runs out, it comes down to close quarter battle.”

And at least these 29 soldiers now have the skills to come out on the winning end of those battles.

Minister of National Security Carlos Perdomo says they plan to hold similar training sessions for Belize’s other security agencies.