Jamaica is one of the most diverse and colourful countries in the Caribbean. Our history, our culture and our people have propelled this small island of just 4,244 sq. miles to the international stage.
A common rule for safe driving in Jamaica is to stay on the left side of the road. The Road Traffic Regulations 2022 outline this directive and provide other instructions for proper road usage. General Driving – Regulation 206 (2...
read moreJamaica is the 3rd largest Island in the Caribbean, home to some of the world’s fastest sprinters ever and it’s own genre of music, reggae, made world famous by the legendary singer Bob Marley.
Louise Bennett was born on September 7, 1919. She was a Jamaican poet and activist. From Kingston, Jamaica Louise Bennett remains a household name in Jamaica, a "Living Legend" and a cultural icon. She received her education from Ebenezer and...
read more“Patriotism… is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime,” as quoted by former United States Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson. And with a lifetime of dignified and distinguished service to Jamaica and the...
read moreCharles Hyatt is well known as a talented actor, playwright, director, author and broadcaster. A Kingstonian by birth, he was educated at St. Alloysious Boys School and St. Simon’s College. He later studied at Theatre Royal in the United Kingdom....
read moreSPORTING LEGACY: What he left behind in accomplishments on the field of sport reads like a bestselling novel. At the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games in London and Helsinki respectively, he won three individual silver medals, two of which were...
read moreRandolph Samuel Williams (Mas Ran) was born in Colon Panama on October 26, 1912. He came to Jamaica at the age of six. He attended Tutorial College, Calabar High and Kingston Technical High. Ranny Williams was a dramatist and comedian....
read moreEdna Manley was born in Yorkshire, England in 1900 to a Jamaican mother and an English father and died February 2, 1987. She studied at various art schools in England including St, Michael's School of Art, London and privately with...
read moreMusical Emissary Hailed as the “most charismatic emissary of modern Pan-Africanism”, by Timothy White in his book, Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley, distinguished international Reggae artiste, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley, more popularly known as Bob Marley,...
read moreCybercrime is any crime in which a computer is the object of the crime or is used as a tool to commit an offence. Most common cybercrimes work by accessing/stealing sensitive and personal information that can cause great damage to...
read moreMinister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Information, Hon. Robert Morgan, says no application for asylum was made by the group of Haitians who...
read moreMinister with Responsibility for Information, Hon. Robert Morgan, has charged the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) to be the vanguard of facts, particularly given the rise in fake news. The Minister,...
read moreEffectively communicating with persons from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community may prove to be more difficult than anticipated for the Hearing because of obvious barriers to communication. Persons from the Deaf community have various needs that facilitate how...
read moreReturning residents who are interested in starting a business are being encouraged to utilise the recently launched Jamaica Business Gateway for assistance. Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, who gave the advice, said the electronic...
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INTRODUCTION
Initial Officer Training Programme (IOTP) provides basic military officer training to Officer Cadets (OCdts) and their equivalents from law enforcement and uniformed services. The programme falls within the tactical level of the Professional Military Education (PME) framework of armed forces and is modelled from the Royal Military Academy Sandhursts’ (RMAS) Commissioning Course. It was designed with the direct support and guidance of RMAS Instructing and Support Staff.
Rationale
Traditionally, the Jamaica Defence Force’s (JDF) longstanding partnerships with militaries across the world has seen its OCdts being trained in academies in the following countries: United States, England, Canada, China and India. Upon the return of OCdts to the JDF, there is a requirement for doctrine and operating procedure standardization due to the varying concepts and differing contents of the training they had undergone. This is normally done at the Unit level and later, through a Young Officers’ Course. The advent of COVID-19 added a new level of complexity to travel, thus negatively affecting the process of sending OCdts overseas. Additionally, the ongoing expansion and restructuring of the Force to cauterize the ballooning threats to national security has caused an increased demand for newly commissioned Second Lieutenants.
Due to the carefully adapted military and academic curricula, IOTP serves as the course to treat with the aforementioned considerations. The methodology used addresses each issue directly and the course, through the delivery of a bespoke training syllabus, is fit for the JDF and is also relevant to the militaries and organizations within the Caribbean region and in other parts of the world.
Concept
Having the RMAS approach to training at its core, IOTP is designed with a syllabus that sees male and female integration throughout training. The course focusses on developing military skills and command with a leadership ‘golden thread’. The course structure allows the Instructing Staff to educate, build, develop and scrutinize an OCdt’s ability to decide and communicate accurately and ethically while under pressure and or stress. The expectation is that on commissioning, an OCdt will be fully cognizant of the responsibilities and personal conditions that being an Officer imposes upon them. The product of the IOTP will be an ethical and robust Officer who has the knowledge, skills, attitudes and intellectual agility to adapt their decision-making process and approach to any environment.
Location
The home of IOTP is the Caribbean Military Academy (CMA) Newcastle, which is located at the Newcastle Hill Station, St Andrew, Jamaica.
Nestled in the cool hills of upper St Andrew and amidst beautiful trees, ferns, ground orchids, delicate wild flowers and a profusion of ginger lilies, is the Newcastle
Training Depot founded in 1841 by Major General Sir William Maynard Gomm (later Field Marshall). Gomm, a veteran of the wars against revolutionary France and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica from 1840 to 1841, relentlessly badgered the War Office in London to establish a mountain station for British soldiers in Jamaica soon after taking up his post.
The idea of the hill station was first raised by Gomm in a letter dated April 7, 1840 to Governor Sir Charles Metcalfe. Gomm pointed out that while Up Park Camp was an ideal location for a barracks, it was subject to the ravages of yellow fever. In Jamaica the
British garrison was stationed on the plain at Up Park Camp, Stony Hill, Fort Augusta and Port Royal. Here, on the average, 1 soldier died every 2½ days. According to Russell, the year 1838 was considered a ‘good’ year: only 91 men died. In 1839, 110 men perished and in the following year 121. Initially, the British government was conservative in approving a hill station for the troops in Jamaica. They were concerned about the expense of the venture.
In May 1841, London finally sanctioned Gomm’s efforts to build what is thought to be the first permanent mountain station in the British West Indies at Newcastle. The site selected was a coffee plantation protruding from the southern face of the grand ridge of the Blue Mountains. The British government paid £4,230 for the Newcastle site.
At the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), life at Newcastle changed a little. The British regiment was replaced by Canadian regiments which remained at Newcastle for the duration of the war. With hostilities over in 1945, the Canadians left and once again a British battalion was stationed there.
In 1958, the West Indies Federation was founded and the infantry regiments of the various Caribbean islands were disbanded and reorganized into the West India Regiment. Newcastle became a training depot, training recruits from all over the West Indies as part of the
newly formed West Indies Federation. In 1962 when Federation was disbanded, the West India Regiment was also disbanded. Jamaica simultaneously sought her independence, which was achieved on August 6, 1962. With independence, Newcastle was given to the Jamaican government as part of a general settlement of all military lands in Jamaica.