2012 Recruit Camp To Get Underway
The Regiment’s Annual 2 week Recruit Camp will begin on Sunday 15 January 2012. Last year officials said that this year’s Camp will have 80 recruits — half the 160 recruits there were the previous year — due to economics and other reasons.
Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Brian Gonsalves said, “Of all the specifics that we require from new recruits, an open mind and positive attitude are equally the most important. The Regiment offers young men and women a unique opportunity to work together in a structured, proactive, and rewarding environment.
“We know that some members of the public like to ‘show-off’ to potential recruits by fabricating stories – my advice to 2012’s recruits is to ignore those negative individuals and look forward to a challenging two weeks conducted by professional and dedicated staff.”
The Regiment said recruits are reminded that in accordance with the instructions they were issued in October or November 2011 they are to be at Warwick Camp for a 7:45am start dressed in their combat uniform, and be clean shaven with a “regulation haircut.” Recruits are also expected to have their kit they were issued and “come with an open mind and positive attitude.”
For soldiers who have not been issued uniform, they are to report to the Quarter Master’s Department at Warwick Camp this Saturday [Jan.7] from 9:00 – 11:00am. If you have any questions about Recruit Camp, you can visit the website at www.bermudaregiment.bm, or contact Sergeant Major Pereira at lapereira@gov.bm or 238-3883 ext 244.
Let’s hope there are less assaults than last year colonel! No fabrication required. Feed these young men to the dogs and let them have their way with ‘em… Hoorah!
if no one went then they would have to put an end to this un democratic procedure we call conscription….Please no one turn up to recruit camp, they cant arrest all of us.
I neither agree or disagree with this, but I will say( and you sound as though you’re due to go there?) organizing a mass no-show would be quite difficult, though it would certainly draw the attention of the powers that be to review conscription and the role of the Regiment.
As someone who has done his 3 yrs and 2 months of “service” i can say without any hesitation that (apart from meeting new people) the regiment is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. The term “hurry up and wait” comes to mind… (toy) “soldiers” who rise through the ranks get-off bossing people around, thinking they’re actual soldiers; what a joke. I really regret not writing down all the dumb crap that happened in my time there- would be a best seller by now. It angers me the government continues to fund this farce…
No changes in 35 years eh? A colossal waste of time & money.
My own experience leads me to agree with this…
I thrice that. If only the regiment was like baseball… three strikes and you’re out.
I have to agree with towhereas. The regiment is a huge waste of time. All it is there for is to do a couple of parades a year.
They should stop wasting millions of tax payer dollars on the young men and women that do show up to recruit camp because those are the ones that have the discipline to show up.
Go and gather up all these ring dings that go around putting a negative influence on our society and make them have to serve.
“Go and gather up all these ring dings that go around putting a negative influence on our society and make them have to serve.” – This is a great idea… but I would take it a step further and turn the regiment into a rehabilitation center type thing – you know like the ones you see on tv where the teens have no respect for people. They are basically “broken” and disciplined…
Agree, though I certainly wouldn’t give them access to guns. Make them do drill for 3 hours a night LOL
I agree with the others that have commented on here but would like to add, I hope that all the Hazing to the individuals that misbehave and that rebel doesn’t get swept under the rug by the commanding officer. I hope people have enough of a back bone to speak up and make it known especially after reading in the daily about those knife attacks that occured and the commanding officer DENIED all knowledge of it ……..HE LIES.
Have a good 2 week camp gentleman and any ladies that decided to join this year.
As a member of the Bermuda Regiment i would like to say a few things:
1) If anyone can honestly say they feel the regiment does nothing for the community its obvious you don’t keep up to date with the islands current events.
2) For former or current members of the BDA Regiment to say it is a waste of time. YOU made the decision not to take advantage of the opportunities available to you as well as all other serving members. Therefore you wasted your own time. The regiment is far from a waste of time and we provide a required service for our community.
3) Everyone has a problem with conscription, the first thing we must all understand is the Bermuda Regiment did not implement such LEGISLATION government did. Our job BY LAW is to enforce it. I myself do not agree with conscription and was picked up from my job by regimental police. I chose to make the best of a bad situation and I’m still there today. If we all put our minds together and came up with a realistic way to end conscription instead of being negative and/or slanderous just maybe we will get positive results.
Finally NO organization is perfect, the same incidents that happen in regiment happen in 90% of all organizations, the work place, schools, even religious organizations. Let’s not make it seem otherwise. If anything for the only organization(on island) that is built of majority persons who wish not to be there our incidents are considerably low.
As the Commanding Officer said if you have been enlisted in the Bermuda Regiment and are due to show for recruit camp, leave all “stories” (be they good or bad) at the gate, come with an open mind and positive attitude, and form your own opinion based on your own experiences and I’m sure you will find that the place that you heard about and the place that you know are not the same!
I look forward to working with all recruits during the upcoming recruit camp and will do my best along with the rest of the team to ensure you have the most positive and productive training possible.
So because some people didn’t enjoy the experience as you obviously did, they’re wrong to say their time was wasted? I think you need to respect that those who have served are entitled to say whether or not they benefited from the experience. If they feel their time was wasted, who are you to say otherwise? No-one’s telling you that you’re wrong for enjoying the regiment, so why would you tell people they’re wrong if they didn’t? You even admit to being picked up on your job, which means you were sent there kicking and screaming against your will. Not everyone is going to be ‘broken’ and come out smiling and gung ho happy about being conscripted into an army on the basis of being born a male. So kindly tone down the rhetoric, you’re hardly one to talk down on anyone else when you yourself clearly wanted noting to do with the place initially.
I’m not even going to go into the topic of some less than ideal things that go on up the Regiment( at least when I was there), since you wish to compare the Regiment to a work place, religious place, or school, as if people are conscripted to any of those places. Those who have served and not been ‘broken’ know there’s all kinds of bureaucracy in place to sweep such occurrences under the rug. Tell me, is having a superior officer threatening you with anal sex if you do something wrong passing for community service nowadays?