Richards: Training wasted if not understood by leaders

President George Maxwell Richards feels training in the T&T Defence Force needs to be taken to another level, to include fluency in languages. “We cannot be content to understand, through interpreters, what we need to know first hand. We are no less equipped to learn than any other people and we must make full use of the opportunity that is available to us to train ourselves in languages,” said Richards.

In the feature address at the 50th Commander-In-Chief Parade in Chaguaramas yesterday, which was attended by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and National Security Minister Jack Warner, Richards said while many of the men and women in the Defence Force had undergone training to enhance performance, “none of it makes sense if what they have learned and known to be correct cannot flourish, because it is not understood within the hierarchical order.”

Richards said it was a waste of time to train, “if the text book is merely a text book and the training, respite from day-to-day duties, all of it subordinated to personal loyalty or the threat of a sword of Damocles. “Our Defence Force is not a place for whim.” The President said T&T is not the same place it was when he assumed office in 2003, as there has been a tsunami of crime and multiple murders in one day.

“This is unacceptable. Some may say it is a matter for the police. But I beg to differ. I locate this circumstance in the context of the joint army/ police patrols which are a feature of our security system, so that we can get a perspective of the proper role that the Defence Force must increasingly play in protecting the nation’s sovereignty which some assume is for sale.” Richards said the Defence Force must consider a review of role and strategy, if it is to keep in step with what needs to be done to achieve the massive turnaround necessary in the country.