Photos: 2014 Regiment Passing Out Parade
More than 100 new Bermuda Regiment soldiers marched out of the gates of Warwick Camp today [Jan 25] after taking part in the end of recruit camp passing out parade in front of gathered family and friends.
The passing out parade was attended by Governor George Fergusson, Premier Craig Cannonier, Deputy Premier Michael Dunkley, US Consul General Robert Settje and British Brigadier General James Illingworth, formerly of the Army Air Corps and now on the military staff at the British Embassy in Washington, together with a senior Canadian army officer and other dignitaries.
Mr Fergusson told the recruits: “It’s good to see so many volunteers this year – I think a record has been set and it’s good we have had so many women volunteers. I think it’s a sign of things to come.”
He said that the new recruits would see a period of change during their three years’ service, with the possibility of an end to conscription and a security review due to be published soon.
Mr Fergusson added: “Whatever happens, the Regiment will have an essential role, even if that role changes.” And he said that the country’s armed service would continue to provide valuable training for its soldiers and perform an important role in the life of the island.
Mr Cannonier said that the volunteers had “honoured Bermuda by not waiting to be called, but by honouring the call in their own hearts by serving their country.”
And he told the passing out parade: “This has not only prepared you for the battlefield, it’s prepared you for life challenges as well.”
Regiment CO Lt Col Michael Foster-Brown said: “I am delighted and thrilled – recruit camp has gone really well and there’s been a big buzz.
“It’s been really satisfying for all of us to watch the recruits’ development over the last couple of weeks. It’s been great to watch them surprise themselves by what they have been able to achieve and showing them what they thought were their limits was not the case.”
Pte Jacin Lowe, who produced a social media video blog about his experiences in training, said: “It was very much a challenge – a lot of the blog talks about some days that I didn’t want to do it at all.
“There were some days I couldn’t shoot anything at all I was so tired – being up all night drains you. But one of the other privates gave me the inspiration to carry on.”
Pte Lowe, 22, from Southampton and a freelance cinematographer in civilian life, added: “It was tough, especially since I came into it not really fit. I’m a lot more confident about that now. We’re still here, still marching and it’s a dramatic change from when we came in.”
Pte Lowe said that he enjoyed shooting – and was pleased when he discovered he had a talent for target practice. He added: “I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn from some of the older soldiers and that you’re working as a unit and you learn to get along with each other. You gain a lot from the relationships between everybody.”
“You don’t get brutalised – they push you, yes, but that’s one of the things they stressed. It’s not about brutalising people. It’s about stretching them so they can do things they didn’t think they could.”
This year’s camp saw a record number of volunteers – around 40, with half of them women. Hannah-Lynn Johnston, who works in fashion retail, said the passing out parade coincided with her birthday.
The 19-year-old from Sandys, who works in fashion retail, added: “I feel good – I feel great. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the drill lessons, it wasn’t bad at all. It was fun and I enjoyed learning the moves.
“I’ve learned to be responsible for things and better organised – that will all help me in my civilian life.”
Pte Johnston, who has her sights set on the Regiment Police, said: “The worst thing was waking up so early in the morning, getting ready in a minute and going out and exercising.”
Dorothy Butterfield, from Sandys, came to camp to watch nephew Scott Burrows and niece Delina Butterfield celebrate the end of their training.
Ms Butterfield said: “When Scott went home for his break, he wanted to change the household. He said ‘this isn’t right – there’s too much dust and the corners aren’t right on the bed’. He wanted the house in order like the Regiment.
“My brother, his father, said he had been trying to get him ready for this day, but couldn’t do it. The Regiment’s done a good job.”
Click to enlarge photos:
Read More About
Category: All, News, Parades, Photos
Comments (43)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Articles that link to this one:
- Weekend Reports, Photos, Videos, Links & More | Bernews.com | January 27, 2014
- Videos: 2014 Regiment Passing Out Parade | Bernews.com | January 27, 2014
Jolly Good Show Chaps!
worst Prince Charles mimic you ever read!
We truly enjoyed the pictures Jayson our grand son. Great job. Take care. God Bless.
Well said Sisu. So often the deadly aspect of the military seems to be ignored but you have put this maniacal training in proper perspective. Brainwashing continues because of cowardliness to which courage is the antedote.
Yes so nice to see your grandson.
To all you haters of the Bermuda Regiment…yah lazy and lookin’ for a cop out!
Lazy is to allow oneself to be forced into an environment like the Bermuda Regiment without putting up a fight and understanding your human rights, that’s lazy, and fear.
@ Truth is killin’ me,
Just cause people dont agree to involuntary enlistment of a regiment that serves no real purpose but ceremony duties and the very occasional national disaster which they dont do a very good job at.
And you sir for you to make a crazy comments about people being lazy because they dont want serve in a Regiment against thier will, you sir are a fool. At that time in my life like other people with other situations i was working 3 jobs helping my parents at a difficult time and had no need or desire to join anything for free that wasted my time.
Since then and today i have a great job and Family and im a law biding citizen, more then i can say about a lot of people that come out of the Regiment, Murders, Thieves, Sex Predators.
So you and other people with that cop out crap mentality need to recognize the Regiment doesnt and will never produce the best soldier and or person. It Start at home with a great family.
Make the Regiment Fulltime and train and pay them right.
This is the same regiment everybody complains about right..? Just checking. Well done soldiers. Despite all the bad press about the regiment, you have completed recruit camp and made yourself and I’m sure your families very proud.
Well done for conforming to conscription? Okay, well done to those who didn’t follow Harriet Tubman via the underground railroad as well. Those who fight injustice will always make me proud, not sure about those who conform to it, but then again, conformity is more acceptable in racist unjust societies.
If no one complained, guess who would still be there with some real “hands on training” for these guys.
Still be there?
duh!?
” Its all about Service; Pride and Satisfaction “.
If you have just seen the preceding pictures and not attended the passing out parade you have just missed the metamorphosis; transformation or the” Greatest Show on Earth”, there were parents and sweet hearts with tears of pride and admiration seeing their men on that parade ground.
Many many years ago I had a desk job, I am embarrassed to say I was conscripted into the Bermuda Regiment ,that was the way it was, I wish that I had volunteered .
I was only 23 back then and my new bride could not be more proud of me, because she knew what we were in for, if I had known better I would have joined earlier as a volunteer because I then realized that the older you get the more physically harder it gets.
There are many productive lessons to be obtained by joining the Army and serving your country, it is a fantastic experience and nobody says that it’s easy, the rewards are numerous.
You come away with a sense of pride having the admiration and respect from the people of Bermuda.
Go to the cabinet office grounds and weep, there you will see the names of those unfortunate Bermudians who have given their lives in the service of this great country of ours.
There are those who seek to destroy and tear apart the fabric of our very existence with an attempt to disband The Bermuda Regiment, don’t fall into their trap and web of deceit.
By not doing your part, as I and many before and after me, have done you will live a life in self regret and torment for the rest of your existence.
Better men have gone before me.
Amazing what gives people a sense of pride and admiration these days. I would think that standing up against such organizations would give people a sense of pride. To show courage and resist forced labour, to stand against an evil system that has caused so much pain to many families, okay and as you call it, web of deceit? You are aware that all that has been said about the Bermuda Regiment and what goes on there has been proven in the court of law, you sound like you are willing to ignore the reality of it all to satisfy your own feelings.
Furthermore, being conscripted in an organization like this is NOT about serving your country or instilling pride, it is about control and command. If it was about instilling pride and service to your country they would not be forcing people to join, they’d do a better job of educating them to the point that they’d want to join.
You and many others can do your best to protect this vicious organization and the people in it all you want, but reality speaks for itself. The organization is tied to a very bad past via conscription and is nothing more than an old boys club for a select few.
I never got called, and believe me I don’t live in “self regret and torment” for one second, what a joke. If you believe that joining the regiment is the only meaningful way to do your part, you are delusional, and undermine all the good done daily outside of the regiment for society.
And I’m sure you told your new bride EVERYTHING YOU DID in the Regiment especially on those overseas trips. But then again that was probably just the other recruits not you.
Good point.
I would like to see the next Bermuda Regiment passing out parade stretch from the Flagpole to the Cenotaph.
is all this pomp, and ceremony necessary?
i could understand if we were making money(govt.)maybe..
are we not, deep in debt, jn the midst of a recession?
‘this has not only prepared you not for the battlefield,its prepared you for life challenges as well’
like if you need to get somebody gotten?
all this in two weeks? these guys must be the pros.
“You are aware that all that has been said about the Bermuda Regiment and what goes on there has been proven in the court of law, you sound like you are willing to ignore the reality of it all to satisfy your own feelings.”
@ Free-DUM – I think you’re letting your own prejudices blind you. One former Major in the Regiment, who was asked to retire in 2002 following a 2001 acquittal on a charge of sexually assaulting a soldier, was subsequently convicted of offences carried out more than seven years after he left. The charges related to his later civilian career at the Bermuda Housing Corporation.
I would strongly encourage anyone – whether male or female – who has been the victim of any form of sexual assault or harassment to contact police and make a formal complaint.
Do you really want to open that can of worms? I think not! Everyone who has been in the regiment knows that conviction was only the tip of the iceberg. And that includes the officers and our local politicians. If in doubt just talk to them and inquire. But then again you already know.
‘more than enough’
1st line; Yes it is. It salutes all the hard work and discipline that these people have gone through and in reality shows comradery.
2nd line; Money well spent to instill and garner response.
3rd line; Yes and not the fault of the Government of today.
4th line; Garbage. These young men and women have bonded and learned to rely on each other and that’s what it is all about.
5th line; see above
6th line; Discipline is a b**** and something that many are not afforded even at work or at home. Seeing others conform to things that one would never do or shove aside is productive and helps to change ones outlook on how they feel about themselves, their peers and life in general.
Finally ..they are not “pros.” They did not refuse to attend. They worked their butts off and worked as a team/platoon. Followed orders whether they agreed or not; all parcel to a new thing.
Each platoon is pitted against each other to make them work harder, work as a team and yet in the end they are one.
Shalom.
wrong.
1.this one is easy..no.
2.’money well spent’ i think not.
3.and…?
4.this ‘garbage’ of which you speak, is a direct quote from the premier, as according to this article.
5. see above. as this, is also in reference to a quote from the premier.which i agree is also garbage.
6.yes massa
also, as it is obvious, that the point of the last line, went right over your head.i will spell it out for you :- s a r c a s m.
“all this in two weeks?’, refers to the premier, alluding that these young recruits are ‘prepared for the battlefield’ and’, prepared for life challenges’,after a measly few days or weeks in training.
and last, but not least,’ these guys must be the pros’, refers to the regiment elites, in particular the 8, who claim to be the only ones that know what the regiment needs to survive.also, the rps and co s or whatever, who have the incredible talent of turning our supposedly wayward youth into ‘real men’ in a matter of days..
what a joke!
Substitute plantation for platoon and what do you get? Slavery under a different name. The young men are threatend with punishment if they don’t smile for the cameras and you know that to be true.
All week they are subjected to swearing but when the governor arrives it all stops. Proud to be Britain’s oldest colony. Hail to the chief.
Thank God you never served overseas in Iraq et al.
Serve overseas in Iraq to kill people for what reason?
And you did? What has that to do with conscription in Bermuda? Tell that to the parents of young men who have lost their minds at Warwick Camp. Injustice anywhere in the world is wrong. Ever thought about the many innocent Iraqi women and children that have been killed or seriously injured? So what does that have to do with conscription here? Does it make it okay. You are way above your pay grade!
@ Terry your argument is mute because none of those who served in Iraq for Britain, Canada or the U.S. did so by being enlisted through conscription. None of them where members of an under trained part time “regiment” but members of full time military forces to which they voluntarily enlisted.
well done all the best for the coming years.jkopec montreal canada
@Gee Whiz. If there is a can of worms, yes, it should be opened. But that depends on those who allege they have been offended against coming forward. The police are the relevant authority to investigate such allegations. I was never conscripted and probably wouldn’t have liked it much if I had been and have very little knowledge of these allegations. But, if allegations there are they should be investigated. From what I’ve seen and read of the Regiment, that would be welcomed.
If you honestly believe that the Regiment would welcome people coming forward then I have a bridge to sell you. Please converse with your local MP to learn more on the subject. Maybe then you will be more sympathetic to those who were forced to attend and constantly felt threatened when it came to sexual assault.
I have a nephew who was drafted and would often leave the house for camp saying if anyone up there touched him he would go Westgate. That’s the type of environment we are talking about.
There is indeed a can of worms to be opened and it is just a matter of time. Talk to the people in power like I suggested.
First of all war is a ugly and dirty business.
Our latest group of Soldiers at the end of their term will no doubt face hardship.
” You can not know the comfort of a silk cushion , until you sit on a burlap sack”.
For those of you who may not know what the Military is all about and what they teach you ,it is how to survive under unimaginable difficulty.
A true story………..
I new a Man who is no longer with us, a Bermuda born Man, a Man with courage, fortitude and determination and a man many of us have come to admire and respect, this Man left Bermuda During
W W 11 to join the Royal Air Force, unfortunately his plane was shot down over Germany where he spent time in a German P.O.W. camp.
This Man eventually escaped from the camp and was faced with an arduous trek of hundreds of miles across Germany and France back to England.
By now you are wondering how this Man made this incredible journey.
To avoid detection he dressed up as a beggar and when approached he would make unintelligible noises as if he were a deaf mute , The Germans would have nothing to do with deaf mute.
Back in Bermuda his friends refereed to him as “Mumbles”.
How do I know his story ? I worked with him !
And your point is that you mumble?
Or did you learn.
Pte. Jonhson said,” I’ve learned to be responsible for things and better organized- that will help me in my civilian life.” Are you serious? A nineteen year old woman needs the Regiment to teach her to be respnsible for things and better organized. And all in two weeks. Much credit to the Regiment.
Pte. Burrows aunt, speaking on his behalf said her nephew came home and dusted and made up his bed properly. According to her his father had been trying to get him ready for this day all of his life.
So he learned how to dust and make up his bed properly. Much credit to the Regiment. Conscription should stay. These heart-warming, inspirational stories more than justify the draft. Tears running down my cheeks as I write.
My gosh! Why is there such a fuss when it comes to the regiment? It’s almost like were being sent to a concentration camp. We act like little kids crying because we don’t want to go to school or take a bath. Basically it boils down to one thing, we as humans don’t like to be told what to do, were spoiled rotten thinking the world owes us. In a country there has to be some rules and regulations. Like some hate some! but because we disagree with them should we have to do away with them altogether? We have a speed limit stop signs give way signs etc all the above, guess that’s why so many accidents and speeding ticket some want to do what they want and of course complain when they get caught. I wonder how some of us managed in school even at work when the boss tells us to do something we don’t want to. Is this why the quality of service in Bermuda has dwindled? We need to grow up as a people humble ourselves take pride in what we do in even if we don’t feel like doing it.
I was born in the 60s, it freaks me out how we cry and scream and kick our feet at some of the simplest request. Is going into the army really that bad REALLY?
I congratulate everyone who has gone through the process especially the volunteers for having the discipline the courage to take up the challenge, power to the ladies as well, good job!
To see my niece Miss Hanna Johnston volunteer and make it through with a smile on her face as Just Once quoted: brings tears to my eyes.
She is continuing a long line of Furbert that have passed through these ranks. Bandmaster Bill Furbert was her Great Grand Father very good Hanna.
A proud uncle.
Congrats all in the pics above. Every one of you is now a trained killing machine. Shoot to kill, not injure. That is what we are taught. But, you might say, there are no wars to be fought. Or riots to qwell. So tell me then why two weeks are spent honing this skill. Or why shooting is such an important aspect of our time in the regiment. 99% of you would have said you could never kill anybody prior to your arrival at warwick camp. But now you are pawns of the powers that be. Shoot (to kill) as ordered or face the consequences. Are you ready for that day? I’m glad your parents are proud of your weak convictions. And that because the government say to do something you follow along blindly. The game just got real son. Are you ready to play?
Well said Sisu. So often the deadly aspect of the military seems to be ignored but you have put this maniacal training in proper perspective. Brainwashing continues because of cowardliness to which courage is the antedote.
@Just once – I fail to see how I can be more “sympathetic” than wanting to see all such allegations fully investigated and, if anyone is convicted, that they suffer the consequences of their actions. In addition to justice being done, any victims of what is a particularly cowardly and exploitative crime would, I would hope, feel some measure of vindication and closure.
Also, in recent times, the US military, the British and Canadian armies have all been embroiled in scandals involving everything from sexual abuse to torture and murder, from Iraq to Northern Ireland, Somalia and Afghanistan.
Those involved were punished – as they should be – and the military survived the experience and improved.
Why should Bermudians settle for anything less?
seriously? you bies make it sound like every person in the regiment is allegedly touching and raping all the others. i did my time. i never saw stuff like that happen (not saying it didnt because it was proven it has) but things like this happen in every day life. sexual harassment happens in offices from insurance companies to government. im not defending it, but i will say conscription is not that bad. if it happens, report it. you get called up, go. like our forefathers did. its tradition you muppets.