Nine Colonels React To MP Roban’s Comments
[Updated with PLP response] A group consisting of nine former Commanding Officers of the Bermuda Regiment said they read with interest Mr Walter Roban’s comments about conscription, and the need he sees to put pressure on the Premier to act quickly to bring the practice to an end.”
The nine said is is their “intention to continue to engage with more of these law makers, including Mr. Roban, because the security of our Island is too important to be used as a political football.”
In a statement last week Mr. Roban, the Shadow Minister of National Security, said: “It is important for the OBA to now prove that they were not just all talk as opposition and that they have vision and role for a 21st Century Regiment. Bermudians should not be forced to wait 5 years for the OBA to figure out how to keep this promise.”
The group includes nine of the eleven living former Commanding Officers: Lt Col Michael Darling, Lt Col CE Raynor, Lt Col Gavin Shorto, Lt Col Allan Rance, Lt Col Patrick Outerbridge, Lt Col David Gibbons, Lt Col William White, Lt Col Brian Gonsalves and Lt Col Brendan Hollis. Lt Col Edward Lamb and Lt Col David Burch are the two remaining COs who are not involved.
The statement from the group said, “The Nine Colonels have read with interest Mr Walter Roban’s comments about conscription, and the need he sees to put pressure on the Premier to act quickly to bring the practice to an end.
“Our group has spent quite a lot of time during the last few months trying to persuade Bermudians, not to keep conscription at all costs, but to recognise the risks Bermuda faces if we try to eliminate conscription carelessly. We believe we have raised the community’s consciousness significantly about the good things the Regiment does, and about what might happen if we fail to keep our intake of manpower at a certain level.
“We have tried to do that in a neutral, non-confrontational and respectful way, and we believe most of those for whom our message was intended have understood and appreciated that. There are some who either don’t understand or don’t care what we say, but we accept that as natural in a community like ours.
“We noted with some satisfaction that the Premier, in his statement to the House of Assembly early in July, said this: “…the elimination of conscription will not be done in a haphazard fashion but will be an orderly transition designed to preserve the strength of the Bermuda Regiment without prejudice to the role and responsibility it is required to discharge….this change will take time, money and planning and no amount of campaigning to the contrary will make it happen any sooner.”
“To put it in simple terms, he thinks he has a plan that is going to work without compromising the Regiment in any way. As we have said before, we would support such a plan wholeheartedly. If it can be done, we’re for it. Now, we think, the Premier must be given the time to make his idea work.
“This is an important matter for Bermuda. If we get it wrong, we will find ourselves without a Regiment. To put undue political pressure on him to get it all done in the blink of an eye is very, very short sighted indeed.
“With respect, we would ask Mr Roban to let the Premier do what the Premier feels he must do. Let him do it thoroughly and well so that we can see without any doubt whether in this community we can afford to do away with conscription completely at this time. That, it seems to us, is the only sensible way to proceed.
“We have met with several members of the Government and the opposition. Ministers, Shadow Ministers, MPs and Senators have all been supportive and clearly recognize the need for a strong, well-manned Regiment. It is our intention to continue to engage with more of these law makers, including Mr. Roban, because the security of our Island is too important to be used as a political football.”
Update 11.32am: In response to the above, Mr. Roban said: “We take note of the response of some former Regiment Commanders. We commend them for their sacrifice and service during their tenure in The Bermuda Regiment but we must respectfully disagree with their stance that Bermudians should sit quietly and “…let the Premier do what the Premier feels he must do…”
“Bermuda is a democracy, not the barracks at Warwick Camp where orders are barked out and followed in unquestioning silence. The Premier has contradicted himself on conscription. He has flipped from his previous position where he demanded progress to one where he is now obstructing progress without explanation. The Premier has given no details on the process going forward nor has he explained why it will take until 2019 to be completed.
“Premier Dunkley and the OBA need to believe as most Bermudians do; Promises should mean something and not be broken or cast aside without the courtesy of an explanation. That may fly in the military, but Bermuda can only move forward together if we can trust our government to be open,transparent, accountable and capable of keeping their promises.
“An orderly transition to a volunteer Regiment is supported by the PLP, yet while the OBA drags their feet without explanation our young men continue to be drafted and in some cases criminalized for their opposition to being forced into military service against their will. This must be addressed sooner, rather than later.
“We believe the energy of the former Regiment Commanders will better serve the country and the Regiment by not attacking the Opposition in doing its job. It will be more constructive to use their accumulated experience to support the Regiment in every way during this historic transition away from conscription rather than clinging to the past arguing for its retention.”
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We live in a funny world, the two that shouldn’t have been Commanding Officers of the Bermuda Regiment in the first place, don’t want to be involved now. Go figure!!!!!!
Million dollar question is why.
Political ambitions
I see nothing wrong with the OBA govt. taking their time. Just think, if the PLP had taken their time with that PRC/status legislation, maybe they’d have gotten it right without ” loopholes”.
Of course you don’t. As a female you have nothing to worry about. No conscription for you. No worry of assault. No training to kill. It must be nice to let the rights of others be trampled in whilst you sit in the comforts of your home… So hey, it’s only another 1,000 young men who will be subjected to the bullshit that takes place up at warwick camp, right? Let’s take our time and do this right. I mean heck, it’s only human rights at stake here. You know, I wish people like you had more say over my life…it would be bloody brilliant.
But let’s live in bizarro-world and say the regiment was disbanded ‘too quickly’. What would happen? Would we even notice? I’ll answer that for you: no, we wouldn’t. They do f all for us besides marching at parades. Like three times a year. Hurricane cleanup? Yeah, two or three in 40 years makes conscription well worth it. Riot control? Same story.
So you see, no matter what these have-been play-soldiers think, the regiment will go down in our history books as one big cluster f and they are the ones who will be remembered as the faces of said f.
The times they are a changing. Make love, not war. Hoorah.
Well said
Sishu
You are so out of touch it’s frightening.
Please get a flight and go back home.
Take all of your mates with you.
Good one Diva, so true. Pay attention Roban, your party had 14 years to do it. Take your time Premier.
Yeah take his time it’s only people’s rights being trampled upon. Maybe if it was animals suffering you would demand the matter be dealt with expeditiously. Go PETA!
No people’s rights are being trampled on. Get a grip.
It’s coming to an end. The PLP wouldn’t do it, but this government will.
The PLP are amateurs. They don’t think things through. That’s why they keep second-guessing their own laws they passed or didn’t pass. They made a mess of the economy, and everything else as well.
Drink driving laws? Screwed up.
PRC law? Purportedly screwed up.
Conscription? Promised to end it but forgot to do anything about it, and in the meantime went to the Privy Council to enforce it.
PATI? Passed it in principle, but forgot to do anything about it.
No people’s rights are being trampled on”? Once conscripted a young man loses the following rights:
Freedom of movement
Freedom of conscience
Freedom of association
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of speech (Standing Order 82)
Freedom to negotiate working conditions, wages,etc.
And the government is ending it. Finally we have a government organised enough to do things, rather than just make promises.
Rights are mot being trampled on in the sense tgat the government is acting legally and constitutionally.
You have got to be kidding me Creamy. “Rights are not being trampled on in the sense that the Government is acting legally and constitutionally.” So in other words because something is legal and constitutional it does not trample upon the rights of its citizens.
Everything Hitler done in Nazi Germany was legal and constitutional including the concentration camps. Slavery was once legal and constitutional in this country. There was a time when women were not allowed to vote in accordance to the constitution. Therefore according to your perspective nobody’s rights were trampled upon during those eras.
Stop arguing just for the sake of arguing and start factoring right and wrong into the equation. This is about human rights!
PETA kill the majority of the animals that come to their shelters, and would rather see cats and dogs dead than as pets.
Just FYI.
Well aware of that fact thus the remark.
Blah Blah BLAH, truly a thin skinned windbag moning about a “Human Rights” issue that’s “NOT” a human rights issue ! You do not speak for me buddy, the only rights trampled on in this Island is The Public`s by the BIU and their meetings! Oh yea, and lets not forget pedestrians !
I echo what Creamy said !! Tired of hearing your mouth and your non issue.
For any and all of you what ever way you look at it the ultimate outcome will be the same ! for those with ineternet that like to browse world news you will find that the doing away or reducing the regiment to volunteers only will be a step to further militarise the pólice forcé !
Ouch! Seems like the PLP are losing friends by the day now…
You can see it for yourself, the PLP use certain thing for political gain. Glad someone has addressed it.
Roban is a liability. Wonder how long until the PLP put him on the shelf?
PLP were supporting the status quo and conscription…took it to the courts.
These 9 men are a joke.
I am not concerned about their views on conscription, I am bothered by the fact that they have not in the years that they have left the Regiment put their voices together to speak to anything affecting the island or significantly affecting men in Bermuda. When men were suggesting that abuse was taking place in the regiment, none came forward to speak against. When a regiment senior officers was jailed for relationships whilst in the regiment, none said anything. Gun violence, no suggestions from these former highly trained men, reshaping of the Civil Service, not a word from these men that Gov’t Dollars paid for their training.
For these powerless men now to put their voices together publicly and they go assume they have “SAY” I think it is weak, and as useless as they all are now.
You clearly don’t know these men very well. Most of them have given (and still give) vast amounts of their time to benefit our community, not just through the regiment but through other charities and organizations as well.
I bet if you compared your contributions to our community with the contributions made by these men you would be humbled by the facts, and you would refrain from the personal attacks. You really are quite pathetic and cowardly
tell us where some of these individuals give of themselves……..and tell me that the new service that you refer to isn’t self serving as well….go figure
Real talk,
You’ve done nothing during your stay on my island.
Your useless and a joke.
Go home.
Can we all for once be open and honest? The Regiment plays no real role providing security within Bermuda.
We need to start being open and honest and stop this nonsense of sugar coating and beating around bush.
These nine ex heads of The Regiment are living in denial and a fantasy world and anyone else who believes or at least is hear saying that the Regiment provides security for Bermuda.
Come back to reality, I am sure the Regiment can be put to better use but for some reason they are not.
For instance they could be used to provide 24 hour security to the Governor, the Premier, the House of Assembly, the Cabinet.
Instead they are paraded around on Bermuda day, cup match with no real propose. They are also deployed with the marine police but again with no real purpose.
Utilise these men properly or get rid of the Regiment altogether. In it’s current state it is a waste of taxpayer funds.
A security review was carried out some time ago. I wonder if any of the recommendations made were ever put into real play?
So the BPS asking the Regiment for additional manpower to supplement their needs is not “providing security”. You even mention the Regt working with the BPS but it means nothing?
Did you actually read the security report and do you even know the Regiment’s mandate and purpose?
I did my 3 years at the regiment and it was a huge waste of time. It’s not organized and the term “hurry up and wait” explains the disarray of the regiment. The Bermuda regiment is nothing besides a parade army. If you can justify the millions of dollars spent on a parade army every year then so be it. It not, then these 9 ex colonels need to put their heads together and come up with a plan instead of bickering about what a PLP politician said. They know for a fact the regiment is 98% useless aside from hurricane clean up and parades.
To be honest, if the organization was professional and paid part-time soldiers good wages, they would not have a problem ending conscription because they would have a ton of new applicants and some folk like me who left would actually come back. But again they need to re-innovate and make the organization professional, effective and full of purpose.
Please…What about PATI? The PLP passed the law and then refused to enact it for many years. The OBA will now get that done.
When legislation is chaged in a big rush mistakes are made and unintended consequences arise. We’ve seen this time and time again under the PLP and previously with the UBP.
Take the time and get it right.
The OBA dragging their feet!!??
Oh come on PLP!!!! You have zero room to move when it comes to “dragging ones feet”! What about PATI?? That dates back to 2002 or 2003. What about decriminalisation?? How far does that date back? Was it 2006/7 when Dr. Brown put National Service into his Throne Speech?? Yes it was. It’s all there in black and white.
What about a new hotel?? That dates back to 1998!!!! And none of that happened under any PLP administration.
Already with the OBA we have the end of conscription coming, new hotel and redevelopment and PATI which is coming in 8 months!
Come on PLP……stop rewriting history.
Opinions matter: you can use the term mandate all day long. It only sounds good. I made suggestions you used a pretty word.
The men who are presently conscripted to the Regiment aren’t even properly vetted.
Thats probably why the Governor would never put his trust in the Regiment to guard him.
Mandate or no mandate, the Regiment is a waste of time unless put to better use.
Yes I read the security review which in my view was a political football. It did have some great suggestions but I bet good or bad none have been implemented thus far.
Either utilise the Regiment properly or get rid of it and the power hungry men.
Even the new court is a joke. I don’t know why for a small country we have such a large building, yet we have I’ve been told 4 supreme courts all over the place. Why not put all courts in the same building?
Oh I know, that would be to ease and would save tons of money in trying to secure it.
Opinions matter: why don’t you educate us with what the so called mandate is for the Regiment. My bet whatever it is, it’s still a waste of time right now.
Weren’t Mr. Roban, the Opposition Leader and Deputy Leader all part of the same administration that went all the way to the Privy Council to retain the Regiment’s right to conscription?
And why is it every time that someone rebuts the Opposition they label it as an ‘attack?’ And why is Mr. Roban ‘attacking’ these gentlemen’s right to opinion and freedom of speech by essentially telling them to ‘shut up?’
I don’t agree with conscription, but I do agree with a sensible wind down of the out dated method which will still allow our regiment to operate effectively and efficiently under a new mandate. Doesn’t the Opposition care about the Bermudians who could lose their full time jobs because of a hastily thought out amendment?
Also, if Mr. Roban and his colleagues had the decency to do their job and attended the House session on July 11th then he could have read the tabled report which outlines the approach to ending conscription. Instead he claims, by lying, that nothing has been produced, while at the same time producing nothing himself/themselves as a genuine option.
Again, I cannot take this man seriously since he was part of the same Cabinet/administration that spent thousands of tax payer dollars as a means to save conscription by going all the way to the Privy Council or the fact that he has not and cannot produce any options or than complaining about the Government’s.
Roban….never to be affected by conscription. is he even originally from Bermuda or is he a descendant of a PRC??????????????
So full of bull$h!t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a puppet
@ Former Private,
Well said. This is just politics from the PLP.
Where was Mr. Roban while the PLP where fighting B. A. D. to keep conscription; & all the way to the privy council at that!
From a former volunteer.
ONCE UPON A TABLE.
Ask Burch for his input….he’s never been one to give a politically correct answer
C’mon Burch where are you when the OBA need you LOL
Lambe and Burch not included,it’s “not their turn”!
The answer …I feel is ….ok ….conscript from the amazon,and only conscript women…
It is commonly known amazon women are warriors just look at Monica Martin!
Amazon women are beautiful and can be of great use even after regimental duties.
There are lots of them…they are from Brazil…there are brazillions of them.
No…they are not the wild women of Wongo….but they will do nicely just the same!
ER…correct!
I am surprised the 9 Colonels did not issue a statement on the culture of sexual assaults at Warwick Camp
I tend to agree with posters who say get on with it, I served my three years and my experience was that the leadership in the regiment lacked even the military skills, let alone the general intelligence to lead. Attaining rank was simply a process of who was willing to stay involved, I had many sergeants, colour sergeants even officers who were basically clueless.
In terms of riot control, we played games but the general populace know nothing, the regiment will NEVER act against Bermudians in a riot situation, NEVER. They might be used to guard non essential buildings but at any sign of confrontation the general soldiers are no where near disciplined to act against another human being. They looked fancy during 9/11 but it was for show for tourists and had no actual effectiveness. Three years of part time training is not near enough for a soldier to follow an order that they do not personally believe in. So they are not there for riot or internal security.
Hurricane clean up, minimal help, made some folks happy but in actuality the parks department and public works do all the work, they even clear the road to the regiment so the regiment can get out lol, the regiment have no bulldozers or major tree equipment, despite this, a volunteer service could maintain this level of assistance easily. Hurricanes are the one time where Bermuda actually acts Bermudian, there is no shortage of help during these times.
Marine support – lol, not really worth mentioning. Boats are a complete drain on money, the cost to maintain this is not worth the results, ask yourselves why our marine police service is a shadow of what is once was.
Parades – the only real reason the regiment exists, and even then a smaller, more practiced group could do so much better, the beat of the retreat is all band anyway so the common soldier is not needed. A properly trained colour guard is all you ever need for this, supplement this with a volunteer group and no one will notice the difference.
I have not even mentioned human rights, was not an issue for me as the law is the law. I served because my name was called from the hat, simple. Does not mean though that I feel it should stay. I can name four to five charities that could thrive with part ownership of warwick camp: Scouts, Outward bound, raleigh international, overseas missions, big brothers / big sisters etc. and al these could coexist and benefit form a small volunteer uniform service. imagine the potential mentor relationships from soldiers to disadvantaged youth etc….
Yo
Dismantle the entire waste of money… are we not infinancial despair already? We have a heap of clowns in parliment we already have to pay, an increasingly growing debt, and we want to tread softly around the serious issues…f dat! It’s bad enough we have these overpaid underacheieving polititions parading around ruffling their feathers.
We cannot afford full time paid “volenteers” and to be forced to participate is most definitely a human rights violation.One,which my conscience could not allow me to accept, regardless of whatever consequences may come as a result of my refusal to be forced to be a part of such a useless and pompous institution.
I am now a conscientious objector and will forever be in regards to this issue.
“The security of our island blah blah blah…” what a pile of crap
We broke!Close down that unnecessary waste of money.
I bet the co’s are raking in six figures for doing squat.
I could have made some money betting on dunkleys approach…I knew he didnt have the resolve to eliminate conscription he doesnt have what it takes.
Same with the herb issue…he is only willing to take the very weakest approach…soft.
Catch up 2 d times, ships changing, don’t b scered