GDF concerned about female soldiers who are pregnant ‘every year’

The Women’s Army Corps of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is celebrating 51 years since being established and Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Patrick West is urging female soldiers to practice family planning.

Delivering remarks at a Thanksgiving service hosted at the Base Camp Ayanganna on Tuesday morning, the Chief-of-Staff explained that there are concerns about soldiers who become pregnant every year.

“We want responsible behaviour, that it must be planned, we don’t want every year a female soldier to become pregnant. It adds to her own social burdens and it creates challenges for the force and in the morale of the female ranks too, because of her own situation so there is an off spill of all the issues she’s having to other females….it is not to stop any pregnancies…but it must be done in a responsible manner,” Brigadier West said.

Meanwhile, he charged the Women’s Army Corps to formulate a plan to better the lives of female soldiers.

He said the plan must be completed in the first half of 2018 and “will address leadership issues and gaps in the force, that will ensure women are treated fairly at work and not discriminated against, to ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women, to promote education, training and professional development of women, to promote better family planning and the management of personal and professional lives of women, to have women in, and contribute to national development efforts.”

He explained that the plan will guarantee female soldiers equal opportunities as he urged them to work towards being respected by their male counterparts.

According to the Army head, he understands that the challenges faced by the women differ from those faced by men but he will not sit at the helm of the organization and see any woman being abused.

“Abusers will be dealt with in the harshest manner. The uniform does not protect you. Actually, the uniform does not give you any special privileges, it will only guarantee that while I am chief of staff, you will not escape the punishment for those sins,” he noted.

At the event were several retired female officers and other ranks, including one who was from the initial intake of females in 1967.

The Women’s Army Corps was born out of a critical national need, after a significant number of males were deployed to counter the actions of foreign aggressors, leaving a shortfall in manpower for the continued operations of the force. This led to the recruitment of female soldiers.