Coast Guard Sailors Question Meal Allowance Delay

Some Coast Guard sailors are questioning why BDF soldiers are receiving a new seventeen-dollar daily meal allowance while they have been told to wait. The concern surfaced on social media after Coast Guard personnel reportedly learned they would not get the per diem immediately, despite earlier expectations that it would apply across the security forces. But Defense Ministry CEO Francis Usher says the difference is based on how the two forces operate, and he says Coast Guard personnel will eventually receive the allowance as well.

 

Francis Usher, CEO, Ministry of National Defence

“For the rollout of the BDF, what we’re doing is we’re procuring MREs for those that are deployed to the jungle. And this is a trial phase, so between we’re buying enough MREs from now till the end of the financial year. And if the soldiers say we would prefer to try a different type of MRE or freeze-dried food or something that would last better in the jungle, we’re open to that. We’re open to suggestion. But the number we landed on was seventeen dollars a day per member of the BDF. Now, the plan is to roll that out in the Coast Guard, but the Coast Guard is a little different in terms of their operational requirements. Whereas the BDF is walking through the jungle sometimes for days before they get to their patrolling area, the Coast Guard goes by boat to their forward operating base. So they are able to take fresh rations, and they have kitchens at all of their forward operating bases. So they suggested, the commandant suggested, and I agree, that they are able to continue to utilize the fresh rations. So what we did was we kept that going and in a new financial year, so the first of April, they will start with the per diem plus continuing with the fresh rations. The funds were readily available, so we didn’t have to go back for any more funds to be approved for us to roll it out in the BDF now. And that’s why we’re rolling it out in BDF now along with the new MRE shift, and then we’re going to roll it out in the Coast Guard.”

 

CEO Usher says sailors deployed at sea will continue to receive fresh rations, while those stationed at camp will receive the per diem.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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