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Caribbean Islands The Armed Forces
In late 1987, Jamaica's combined armed forces, the JDF,
consisted of a ground force supported by small air and coastal
patrol contingents. Although not strictly an army, the JDF is
referred to as such in common parlance. Its mission was to defend
the country against aggression and to support the JCF, as required,
in maintaining essential services and in protecting the civil
population in the event of a disaster. The JDF also was responsible
for coastal surveillance and air-sea rescue operations. In
addition, the JDF has supported antidrug operations; since early
1982, JDF Eradication Units have helped to destroy marijuana crops
and illegal air strips. Since the minister of defence portfolio was
dropped in the 1970s, the JDF has been under the minister of
national security. As in the other West Indian islands, the prime
minister is the de facto head of the defense forces.
The predominant element in the JDF is the Jamaica Regiment,
whose origins go back to the West India Regiment that was founded
in 1798 and used by the British in the American War of Independence
and various colonial campaigns in West Africa, as well as during
World War I. The West India Regiment formed the core of the defense
force of the short-lived West Indies Federation in 1959-61. After
the federation disintegrated, the First and Third Battalions became
the First and Third Battalions of the Jamaica Regiment. In 1962 the
Jamaica Local Forces (JLF) was formed as one of the conditions
under which Jamaica was granted independence. The JLF soon evolved
into the JDF, but the First and Third Battalions of the JDF
retained their historical designations.
In the mid-1980s, the JDF's predominant ground force element
consisted of the First Battalion and a support and service
battalion. The First Battalion included the Air Wing and Coast
Guard, as well as a headquarters unit at Up Park Camp in Kingston,
an engineering unit, and other supporting units. Detachments were
stationed at the JDF camp in a facility first established by the
British in the mid-nineteenth century at Newcastle, high in the
Blue Mountains, and in "outstations" located in various parts of
the island. The Third Battalion, consisting of part-time
volunteers, constituted the ground force reserve, called the
Jamaica National Reserve (JNR). Commanded by a lieutenant colonel,
the JNR, which had 1,030 members in 1986, consisted of a ground
force supported by air and coastal patrol elements organized into
an infantry battalion.
Once the sole operational element of the former Ministry of
Defence, the JDF, together with the police, was placed under the
Ministry of National Security and Justice in 1974. The prime
minister commanded the JDF through a major general. In 1986 the JDF
had a complement of 1,780 officers and men. In addition, a civilian
staff of about 360 included functional and administrative
personnel.
By 1986 JDF ground force equipment was almost exclusively of
British origin and included the SLR rifle, Sterling submachinegun,
general-purpose machinegun, and twelve 81mm mortars. The army also
had a small number of Ferret scout cars, supplemented by fifteen
Cadillac-Gage V-150 Commando wheeled armored personnel carriers
received from the United States.
The JDF's Air Wing, which was formed in July 1963, was
headquartered at Up Park Camp, with a base at Montego Bay. Expanded
and trained successively by the British Army Air Corps and Canadian
Air Force personnel, the Air Wing had a strength of 250 officers
and personnel in 1986. It was equipped for ground force liaison,
search and rescue, police cooperation, survey, and transport
missions. In 1986 its inventory included predominantly Americanmade aircraft, but also some Canadian, British, and French models:
five Bell 206A, three Bell 212, and two Aerospatiale Alouette II
light helicopters; two of the Britten-Norman Islander light
transports of the short-take-off-and-landing (STOL) type; one each
of DHC-6 Beech KingAir 90 and Beech Duke DHC-6 light transport
models; and four Cessnas, including two 185s and two light
transports: the 210 and 337. The aircraft were well adapted for use
in areas of the hilly interior of the country, where there were few
landing fields.
The JDF's coastal patrol element, the Coast Guard, was
established at independence. In 1986 it had a complement of about
150 active personnel, including 18 officers and 115 petty officers
and personnel under the command of an officer with the rank of
lieutenant commander. It had an additional sixteen personnel in its
reserve and thirty in other ranks. Equipped with predominantly
American-made equipment, the Coast Guard modernized its three 60-
ton patrol vessels in 1972-73 and augmented them in 1974 with the
103-ton multi-purpose transport/patrol vessel HMJS Fort
Charles. The Coast Guard operated from its base at Port Royal
in cooperation with the harbormasters and the harbor patrol of the
JCF. A Coast Guard unit was responsible for maritime antismuggling
operations. The JDF's Coast Guard was too small, however, to patrol
adequately the island's 1,022 kilometer-long coastline.
Following independence, Jamaica retained a British training
mission for the three JDF components; all JDF officers were trained
in Britain. Canada later took over Air Wing training functions. All
Coast Guard officers received training at the Royal Naval College,
Dartmouth. The United States Navy also has provided training
assistance for Coast Guard officers and other ranks. After a fouryear lapse (mid-1980 to 1984), the British Army and JDF resumed
their program of reciprocal defense exercises in June 1984. In
addition, a group of 140 JDF soldiers was flown to Dover for a
month of training. Jamaica signed a new military training agreement
with Canada in 1985, replacing the one in effect since 1965. Over
250 JDF candidates trained in Canada during the 1965-85 period.
The United States began providing some military assistance to
Jamaica's small defense force after Jamaica requested training and
equipment assistance in 1963. Jamaica's military aid allocation,
however, was zero in the last year of the Manley government in
1980, partically because of the government's close ties to Cuba.
The United States resumed military assistance to Jamaica after
Seaga took office, and in 1986 assistance totaled US$8.275 million,
mostly for enhancing the JDF's narcotics interdiction and marijuana
eradication capabilities. Jamaica was scheduled to receive a total
of US$6.3 million in United States military assistance in 1988,
including US$300,000 in International Military Education and
Training (IMET) funds. Under the Seaga government, the JDF had
received heavy equipment, including jeeps, trucks, and patrol boats
from the United States.
Jamaica's military recruitment was entirely voluntary. Young
men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four who had left
school at the secondary and postsecondary levels were required to
register for two years of public service work as members of the
National Youth Service. This service could be performed in the JDF,
an all-volunteer force, and prospective registrants were encouraged
to consider a service in the JDF with an eye toward making it a
career. JDF personnel were eligible for retirement under the
Government Pensions Scheme.
The Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF) was a uniformed
training contingent founded in 1943. Funds provided by the prime
minister's office covered expenses for training, uniforms,
equipment, travel and subsistence, and pay of salaried personnel.
JCCF operations were substantially expanded in 1972, and in 1973
the organization consisted of some 2,000 officers and cadets in 33
post-primary school units in all parts of the island, together with
an independent unit and a small headquarters unit at Up Park Camp.
Its mission was to provide youths with training, discipline, good
citizenship, and leadership. Although not a part of the JDF, the
JCCF provided a substantial reservoir of young men who had
undergone some military training.
Apart from its training assignments, the JDF was active
principally in support of the larger Jamaica Constabulary Force
(JCF). A mobile reserve unit, the JDF was called on when a local
police detachment was too small to deal with an incident such as an
unauthorized strike or a riot. It also furnished manpower for
patrols during civil unrest, search-and-rescue missions, and
searches for firearms or marijuana. The Air Wing gave mobility to
ground detachments, and the Coast Guard acted in cooperation with
harbormasters and the police harbor patrol.
Data as of November 1987
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