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Deep in the Jungle of Las Cuevas
Tue, October 24, 2006

We've all heard Sgt. Ramon Aguilar's remarkable tale of surviving 9 nights in the jungle. And while much has been said about the Chiquibul National Park, and the Las Cuevas area within it, not many know the actual lay of the land that is Chiquibul. First, it's a national park in the Cayo District covering about 425 square miles. It is Belize's largest national park and it is also where the BDF conducts an annual jungle warfare training. Tonight you'll get to see where Sgt. Aguilar was training when he was lost. Yesterday the 7NEWS team went to Las Cuevas and tonight we'll give you an up close look at the training that made sergeant Aguilar a survivor.

Keith Swift Reporting
This is Las Cuevas, this is the vast jungle in which Sgt. Ramon Aguilar was lost in for nine days. Aguilar was actually here participating in a jungle warfare training with soldiers from four countries, including Belize.

The command center was at New Maria Camp which is where the BDF's Commander Lloyd Gillett and Taiwan's military attache along with the media were debriefed by jungle warfare instructor - Lt. Derrick Castillo.

Lt. Derrick Castillo, Instructor
"The course is based on strenuous physical and stressful training."

And that stressful training means seven weeks of rigorous work in the jungle for the 24 participating soldiers.

Lt. Derrick Castillo,
"We get up in the morning at 0500 hours and get ourselves organized and we do physical training."

Training includes jungle immersion, which means applying camouflage paint and becoming the bush by walking around with leaves and branches and of course, an M16. It may look outlandish but this is what's required for living fighting and training in the jungle. On Monday - the troops at Camp Maria were firing live rounds.

[Video of Live Fire]

Rule number one in jungle warfare training is that you have to see your enemy before your enemy sees you because if you don't, you might end up like this target did.

Lt. Derrick Castillo,
"We train these guys at observation level where we develop the technique of not looking directly at the jungle because looking directly at the jungle, you will see everything green. So we train them to look through the jungle where they get the opportunity to identify something that is a bit different from the norm in the jungle and this helps us to locate the enemy."

Lt. Castillo says management of your firearm in the jungle is paramount and with his m-16, he showed me why.

[Loading, Pointing, and then Shooting M16]

I missed my target but equally important to fighting - is surviving in the jungle. Perhaps no one knows that better than Sgt. Ramon Aguilar who was lost this very jungle for 9 nights. He now calls it - home.

Sgt. Ramon Aguilar, BDF
"I feel at home man. For those nine days I learnt a lot from the jungle. I call it my home. I returned on Wednesday and it has been training, training, training."

Keith Swift,
How is the food? Any snakes lately?

Sgt. Ramon Aguilar,
"Well we did a survival package and I introduced the guys to the snakes. Some of them ate it and others didn't want to. I showed them exactly how to prepare the snake."

Sgt. Aguilar is sharing the jungle with other soldiers. Included among them is Corporal Fearon from the Jamaican Defense Force.

Cpl. Fearon, Jamaican Defense Force
"In Belize you have jungle that is of dense vegetation. In Jamaica it is a vast developing countries and trees and forestry is being cut down so we do not have a jungle, so to speak, as such."

Captain Chen and Sergeant Ting Wei from the Taiwanese Army and Lieutenant Jose Alexander Rivas from the Salvadoran Army are also here to feel the rush of Belize's jungle fever.

Captain Chen, Taiwanese Army
"This training is very difficult but I enjoy it."

Lt. Jose Alexander Rivas, Salvador Army
"Just try to work in the jungle is very difficult, it is very difficult and to take command and control of the squad is very difficult also. So all this training is very hard for us as students."

The trainees also include Police Corporal Basil Reyes who is assigned to the ADU. You might know him from "Noh Matta What" but yesterday he was in the jungle. BDF Commander Lloyd Gillett says there is a reason why all these men form different backgrounds come to Cuevas for training.

Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, BDF's Commander
"The BDF operates in the jungle probably 75% of the time so it is very important that we develop these skills so that when we are in the jungle we are able to survive, fight, and live."

And that is perhaps why Las Cuevas isn't for the faint of heart. In these six weeks - men will become soldiers - and in the case of Jamaica's Corporal Fearon - a soldier will become a warrior.

Cpl. Fearon, Jamaican Defense Force
"This course, it mostly builds warriors so if you think, for any soldier out there, that you have warrior blood in you, you should come here and try your best to pass this course. Just put your best foot forward."

Keith Swift,
So you will leave here as a warrior?

Cpl. Fearon,
"Most certainly."

But not just warriors - jungle warriors - made in Belize.

The training concludes on November 3rd.

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