BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Jamaican Tivoli Gardens crisis has provided real life experiences for Captain Kayode Sutton of the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF), who recently returned to the Federation from an extensive regional training exercise.
Captain Sutton successfully completed a five-month Caribbean Junior Command and Staff Course (CJCSC) that was held in Jamaica and coordinated by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) with assistance from the Canadian military.
The course began in early February and weeks later Sutton and his batch mates briefly found themselves observing the coordination of relief efforts in Haiti. Thanks to the Canadian-funded trip which provided the participants an opportunity to witness the procedures they were taught in a real life situation that offers difficulties and numerous challenges.
Speaking with SKNVibes, Sutton said, “The experience in Haiti goes beyond words. You really cannot explain.”
The young but experienced officer explained that the training he received in Jamaica is being incorporated into the disaster relief exercises currently taking place at Camp Springfield, as the hurricane season continues while the risk of flash flooding remains a possibility due to heavy rainfall.
He recalled that a short time after the JDF Battalion, which was stationed at Moneague Training Base in Haiti, returned from their mercy mission, the soldiers were called to action yet again for the Tivoli Gardens operation in late May, designed to capture alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Sutton stated that students were observers of the entire operation, which provided the practical aspect of the “Internal Security portion of the course". The incident, he added, reportedly served as a cautionary tale for security forces.
“Some very important lessons were learnt while on the course. Just as it was in Jamaica, security forces (anywhere in the world) that are within communities have to keep on their P’s and Q’s and ensure that they do not allow criminals to establish territories and dominate and terrorize people within those communities. But the responsibility does not just lie with the security forces alone,” Sutton emphasised. “Security is the responsibility of everyone that lives in the community. When you see something going on, it is best to report it to the security personnel and let it be dealt with.”
Captain Sutton summed up the training as “very beneficial” and stressed that all lessons learnt would be shared to enhance the capabilities of the local authorities.
Sutton, as a Cadet Officer, was trained in 1999 at the Colonel Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School of the Guyana Defence Force in Timehri, Guyana, where he was highly commended for his knowledge, fitness and resilience during the physically and mentally demanding nine-month Standard Officers Course.
Since then Sutton has completed a number of courses, including Infantry Officers Basic Course at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia; Captain’s Career Course at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri; and Public Affairs Officers Qualification Course at the US Defence Information Institute, Fort Meade, Maryland.
Captain Kayode P. Sutton is the SKNDF’s Public Affairs Officer and is also the Officer Commanding the Force’s Cadet Corps, which is currently in training at Camp Springfield.
