Dear Editor,
Fifty years ago, I was privileged to attend Guyana Defence Force Officer Cadet Course Number 6. The course assembled just a few days before Guyana celebrated its tenth independence anniversary. Editor, I write today because the story of that groundbreaking event in the history of Guyana and the Guyana Defence Force is yet to be told.
“I recall that when we first recruited women into the Guyana Defence Force, the Chief of Staff (Col Ronald Pope) thought that women should be allocated to secretarial duties and telephone operating. I gave an instruction then and I hope that that instruction has been carried out. Though perhaps women should get first choice on secretarial and telephone duties, they must understand that they are soldiers and the price which they pay for equality and being in the Guyana Defence Force must be their ability to do anything the men can do as well, if not better.” Forbes Burnham-Prime Minster of Guyana
Editor, on Sunday May 16TH 1976, history was created in the Guyana Defence Force and the entire anglophone Caribbean when nine young women joined their male counterparts as members of the sixth officer cadet course conducted by the GDF.
The United Nations (UN) had designated 1975 as International Women’s Year. A world conference was held in Mexico City on the status of women. The conference established a set of goals for countries to attain by 1986, in order to advance women’s rights around the world. On Thursday January, 15th 1976, the Prime Minister of Guyana presented to the third Parliament of Guyana, a State Paper on the equality of women. These two historical events set the stage for the transformative agenda that followed; female recruits training with their male counterparts on Basic Recruit Course No 1- 1976; women being selected to be trained as pilots and female and male Officer Cadets training together.
The first female officers of the GDF reported for duty on January 30th 1967 and started training at the GDF Training Wing at what was then called Atkinson Field, now Timehri. These women along with the first female recruits underwent six weeks of training in drill, fieldcraft, skill-at-arms, shooting and physical fitness.
The women who assembled at the GDF Headquarter, Base Camp Ayanganna in May 1976 faced a far different challenge than their predecessors. The nine women, Ingrid King, Jasoda Kishun, Verian Mentis, Marilyn Pestano, Paulette Pollard, Bridget Smith, Yvonne Smith and Marlyn Telford would have to undergo all the rigours of a six-month cadet course. In this regard, they were trailblazers. Co-ed training courses at all levels in the GDF are now the norm; but this was not the case 50 years ago.
On Friday December 17th 1976, at a passing-out parade held at the drill -square, Camp Ayanganna, six of the initial nine female cadets graduated as Second Lieutenants; Jasoda Kishun, Verian Mentis, Paulette Pollard, Bridget Smith, Joyce Smith and Marlyn Telford. These six women’s place in the history of the GDF is secure, for they exhibited the right stuff and will forever hold the distinction of being the first women Cadets to complete an officer cadet course conducted by the Guyana Defence Force. Joyce Smith one of the six has the unique distinction of being the first indigenous female officer of the Guyana Defence Force. As we celebrate this milestone and the 60th anniversary of our independence let us remember them and celebrate them also.