The Royal Montserrat Defence Force (RMDF) is proud to announce that 2nd Lieutenant Darion Darroux has successfully completed the Reserve Officer’s Commissioning Course at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
This course commenced on 28 January 2019 and ran for eight weeks culminating in a Commissioning Parade which took placed on Saturday 23 March 2019 at the Old College Parade Square. The Commissioning Parade consisted of a March on by the 37 Platoon of the Dettingen Company accompanied by a band from the Household Calvary.
The parade was inspected by Colonel the Right Honourable Mark Lancaster, Minister of State for the Armed Forces. The Officer Cadets had the privilege of Minister Lancaster giving the feature address at the parade. Minister Lancaster was very instrumental in the RMDF receiving their new set of uniforms after his visit to the island in 2018.
As part of the ceremony one Officer Cadet received the Sword of Honour after being adjudged the best officer cadet for this course. The parade culminated with the officer cadets marching up the steps and into the grand entrance of the Old College. This has been the highlight of the parade. A total of 33 officer cadets graduated as part of the ceremony. This is the same course which reserve officers of the British military as well as other officers in training from around the world would attend to qualify for their commissions. Mr. Darroux’s attendance was made possible through support of the British Defence Adviser’s Office based in Jamaica.
On hand to support Darroux during his commissioning parade were his mother and his brother. Also in attendance were Mrs. Janice Panton, UK Representative for the Government of Montserrat and Lt. Giles Bromley-Martin representing the Irish Guards. The Irish Guards have had a long standing affiliation with the Royal Montserrat Defence Force and recently completed a week-long visit to Montserrat to foster the bounds of friendship between the two units.
