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As forecasters increase their predictions in response to record-warm sea surface temperatures, Cayman Islands Regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Roger Carter says troops stand ready for whatever the season brings.
Carter, speaking with the Cayman Compass Friday, 11 Aug., on hurricane season preparations, says local reservists have been training regularly, honing their disaster-relief skills.
“We have a very committed bunch of reservists. We expect that if anything does happen that they will be ready and willing to come out and to do their jobs to ensure that the people of [the] Cayman Islands are protected. I think we committed to that philosophy,” Carter said.
He said on 30 Aug., the regiment will hold a mock exercise at which its assets will be deployed to demonstrate capacity and reservists will run through the disaster-relief processes.
The operation will begin at Government Administration Building and will then move to the regiment’s Fairbanks facility where its major equipment is stored.
In the event of a hurricane, reservists will assemble at John Gray High School for equipment and deployment.
Those assigned for deployment east of Savannah will be based at Clifton Hunter High School and those west of Savannah will remain at John Gray.
More than disaster relief
Carter, who assumed leadership of the Cayman Islands Regiment about four months ago, said he is working on building capacity as well as community outreach.
He said at this time there are 87 reservists; at its highest, the regiment had 125 members.
Carter said he is looking at additional recruitment drives, but that will not finalised until next year.
“All those things are dependent on finance and a lot of things… [such as] getting permission to recruit. Once we get the necessary permissions, then we’re more than ready to begin another recruiting drive,” he said.
Carter said he wants the regiment to be an integral part of the development of the Cayman Islands, especially for youth and community.
“We’re in a process of trying to understand what we need to be doing and shaping the organisation to ensure that it can deliver the things that we need to,” he said.
The regiment’s strategic priorities, he said, are the development of both the military and personnel to respond to disasters.
Regional links
Carter recently represented the Cayman Islands Regiment at the Jamaica Armed Service Day medals ceremony held on 31 July at Up Park Camp in Kingston, Jamaica.
He said he also used the opportunity to meet with the leadership of the Jamaica Defence Force and the Turks and Caicos Regiment, to discuss Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations in the northwest Caribbean.
Under the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency construct, Jamaica is the focal point for disaster response for the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Haiti and Turks and Caicos, he said.
Establishing those linkages, he said, was important to the regiment and the island.
“It was based on that the Jamaicans wanted to discuss with us how we will coordinate to manage disaster response within [the] northwest sub-region of CDEMA,” he said.
Carter said the “exploratory” meetings were productive with discussions on issues like establishing military-to-military liaison officers in case of an emergency.
Discussions also included training opportunities for members of the Cayman Islands Regiment with the Jamaica Defence Force.
Carter says he always wears his uniform and encourages the community call on him any time, should they have questions about the work the reservists do, or how they can get involved.
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