Since 2002 the British Army Training Support Unit in Belize has been expanding
its operations in Belize. Since then they have increased the number of British
soldiers that come to Belize to train in jungle warfare. At the end of this
year alone BATSUB would have been responsible for training in the range of 4,000
British soldiers. It's an expansion that has been going on for a few years now
and today BATSUB opened its doors to the media to tell us that the British are
coming.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, [alfnoble@yahoo.com]
This kind of daredevil-like exercise is what we have come to know the British
army training support unit for in. But today BATSUB opened its doors to the
press to show that it is more than just about helicopters evacuating civilian
and military casualties.
Alan Whitelaw, O.C. BATSUB
"The British Army has been here for a long time and what we've done
is we've been here under various guises and for different reasons. Its important
that we show you what the British Army is doing in Belize in 2005."
And what they are doing is a embarking on a multi-faceted approach to training
their soldiers in jungle warfare and Officer Commanding BATSUB Alan Whitelaw
says both the British and Belize benefit from their presence here.
Alan Whitelaw,
"The most visible presence of the British military in Belize are our
helicopters and we have three BEL 212 helicopters that are based in Belize.
And these are the helicopters that provide the support not only to the military
but also to the country on a whole. In addition to those aircrafts, we have
the transport fleet that brings the troops in and out of Belize from the UK
and we have some other helicopters. You mentioned the Chunox and we haven't
had a British military Chunox in Belize yet but there will be one later this
year for a few weeks. And occasionally we have PUMAs, which are slightly larger
than the BEL helicopter, and the MERLIN helicopter operating in Belize for six
weeks or up to three months at a time.
In recent years we have increased the number of troops rotating in Belize
and that started in 2002 and we had the first large exercise of 700 soldiers
in late 2003. Now our Core program consists of 4 large exercises each year.
About 700 soldiers to 750 soldiers will come here for six weeks at a time.
There is a wide variety of different training activities that take place
from air jungle combat survival courses which consist of 25 men up to the larger
infantry exercises. The one thing that's common through all them is that the
soldiers are taught basic jungle techniques. We call it jungle craft and its
how to live, operate, and fight in the jungle environment.
This is important for us not just because we want to prepare our soldiers
to operate in the jungle, but by focusing on the lower level training that they
need to operate in the jungle, its good preparation for them to go on operations
anywhere in the world."
This year alone Whitelaw says there will be a significant increase in the number
of soldiers training here.
Alan Whitelaw,
"In 2005 we'll have almost 4,000 troops that will train in Belize. It's
a significant upgrade. If you were to look 2 or 3 years ago, its been a progressive
increase in troops. The steady state for training in Belize is between 3,000
and 4,000 British troops coming in each year.
We are here as guests of the people and government of Belize and we wouldn't
be here unless we were welcome. There are a number of periphery benefits for
Belize by the British military presence and we work alongside BDF. That's good
for us but its also clearly good for the BDF who benefit from our support. It's
good for the economy of Belize. Running exercises, big exercises as we do, doesn't
come at a small cost. It's a multimillion-dollar budget running the British
Army Training Unit and most of that money is spent locally. And then there is
the security aspect, we're not here to provide security to Belize but our presence
certainly enhances security, not only in Belize itself but in particular in
the remote areas where we conduct most of the training. Our presence here as
a legitimate military force enhances security."
7NEWS
produced for broadcast by News Director Jules
Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith
Swift
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