PHILIPSBURG:— After successfully completing a full year of training, fourteen aspirants received their Coast Guard certificate and diploma for Extraordinary Police Officer from the Director of the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, Walter Hansen and Alpha Falbru, Director of the ‘Opleidingsinstituut Rechtshandhaving en Veiligheidszorg’ (ORV). The aspirants received their diploma and certificate during an official ceremony at the Parera Naval Base in Curaçao as their loved ones looked on. The aspirants are now full members of the Coast Guard and will be strengthening the various Coast Guard substations in Sint Maarten, Curaçao, and Aruba.
These aspirants started the Basic Coast Guard Training, ‘Basis Opleiding Kustwacht’ (BOK) in August 2022, followed by four weeks of an intensive team training regime, the so-called ‘Samen Sterk period, in which they are put to the test both mentally and physically. After the first training weeks, the BOK started with lessons in basic skills and advanced shooting skills, seamanship skills, different legal subjects, nautical courses, and boarding procedures. The aspirants have endured many physical, mental, and theoretical challenges and are now ready to protect and help their communities.
During the official ceremony, both the Coast Guard Director, Walter Hansen, and Alpha Falbru Director of the ORV addressed the new coastguards. For more than a year, the young aspirants have been looking forward to this day and it’s time to celebrate their achievement. After working hard and being away from their homes for a long time, they are officially coastguards. They have their diplomas in their hands and the real work at the Coast Guard can begin. The new coastguards will soon go to their coastguard substation in their respective countries where they will be deployed at sea together with their fellow coastguards.
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