Last Friday, the candidates of the new Basic Coast Guard Training (BOK) 2023 entered Marinebase Parera after four intensive introductory weeks. The 21 aspirants from Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten all share one goal, a promising career with the Coast Guard.
During the introductory weeks, the young recruits underwent four weeks of classroom lessons under the guidance of their instructors and experienced various orientation camps. During the camps, the aspirants marched for kilometers, swam extensively, cooked their own meals, built rafts, and completed amphibious exercises. Their final exercise for the introductory weeks began last Thursday evening. For the final exercise, the aspirants marched and paddled at sea, with Marinebase Parera as their destination on Friday morning. At the entrance of Marinebase Parera, the aspirants were warmly welcomed with loud applause by coastguards and other colleagues.
During the entrance ceremony, Coast Guard Director Walter Hansen gave a speech to the aspirants and their instructors. “Your journey began on August 14th as 21 individuals. 10 candidates from Aruba, 6 from Curaçao, and 5 from Sint Maarten. Now, 4 weeks later, I see one group! Being a Coast Guard member is a beautiful, important, and honorable profession. You are two things in one: a police officer and a sailor. Now, the rest of the training begins. This is just the end of the first phase. Everything you learn and practice now can be applied in the future. Now is your chance to make mistakes and learn. You can only succeed if you do it together. Together Stronger! Congratulations!”
After the Director’s speech, the aspirants were allowed to receive their official BOK caps as a token of appreciation for their achievements during the introductory weeks.
This week, the aspirants will begin the basic skills module, including first aid and marksmanship, which will last for 8 weeks. The Coast Guard wishes the coast guard aspirants great success.
