Going back now to our headline story and all that has been report about the Airwing four - who went down in a BDF helicopter on Thursday morning - it has created a lot of infighting in the ranks of BDF, and a lot of it has gone public. It seems messages have been taken out of the Commander's internal BDF chat and sent all over the place via Whatsapp. IT's a major breakdown in discipline and respect, and we asked the Defence Chief of Staff about its implications and consequences yesterday:...
Reporter
"We know that the BDF is grieving right now, understandably, many are grieving, but has this created a sense of panic or some sort of feeling of indiscretion on the behalf of some officers who are just apparantly being quite sharp with their commander General Ortega."
Admiral John Borland- Chief of Defense Staff
"Like you, I find it quite shocking, I find it quite disappointing, I find it deplorable that there would be such a lack of loyalty to the organization, to their commander. Military men and military officers aren't trained to be like that. If they have issues with their commander then they need to work those issues out at various levels. There are different levels of command and authority within the BDF and then there are authorities above the commander's level in the BDF where they can take these issues to. But to be out there disrespecting their commander, that is uncall for, that is unprofessional, that is unnecessary and if it is creating instability and if it is creating uncertainty, then it is the responsibility of the commander and of the civilian leadership including myself to step in and do something about it in order to restore a sense or calm, a sense of respect, a sense of loyalty."
The Commander called a meeting of all his senior command on Sunday to firmly declare that the leaks had to stop.
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