Ready for duty

A platoon from the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) is ready to hit the ground running in St Vincent and Grenadines Thursday as part of a regional response team to the ongoing eruption of the La Soufriére Volcano.

Chief of Staff Colonel Glyne Grannum, late Wednesday night revealed that approximately 30 troops and support staff would be entering St Vincent early today aboard the HMBS Rudyard Lewis and the HMBS Leonard C Banfield Coast Guard vessels to embark on a law enforcement mission.

Moments after addressing his soldiers, Colonel Grannum told reporters the mission is a joint effort between the Regional Security System (RSS) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

He explained the team from Barbados would be teaming up with similar “integral” units from various across the region, to form a much larger force.

“They are going to go ashore in St Vincent and they are going to come under the command of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Commissioner of Police, and conduct whatever law enforcement support or security assistance he may require in the particular operational field,” Colonel Grannum revealed at the Barbados Coast Guard headquarters.

The duration of Wednesday night’s deployment remains unclear in light of the unpredictable nature of the active La Soufriere.Nevertheless, the military leader expressed confidence that the forces would do as much as is necessary to accomplish their mission.

“I’ve heard that the conditions, as bad as they are in Barbados are much worse with regard to the volcanic activity and fallout [in St Vincent],” said the colonel.”[Vincentians] are resilient people like ourselves in the Caribbean, in terms of law and order and knitting together and helping each other to ride through the adversity is part of what the personnel would have sensed on the ground, but of course there a sense of anxiety given the nature of the volcano and the ferocity of it so far,” he added.

Meanwhile, he lauded Barbadians for their overwhelming response to calls to donate a range of items including water, sanitary and non-perishable items. (kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)