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Admiral John Borland, Commander BZ National Coast Guard
"The coastguard is going through a transformation process where we were now evolving to develop the fleet that was once referred to as the coast guard fleet. It will now be transferred to the coast guard infantry marine division. So all of these men and women that are standing behind me now have to be transformed into becoming marines. They will still do their coast guard training, but that takes place at a different time. We are also trying to tailor the coast guard recruit training curriculum where now after 12 weeks you graduate as a coast guard marine. Subsequently you'd go through a one year apprenticeship period where you learn your coast guard skills the traditional coast guard and law enforcement skills. 'The mere definition of a marine is a person who attacks from the sea. So the marine is an amphibious force. what happened here in the coast guard, as traditional coats guards men, we found ourselves doing a lot of coastal and amphibious operations which our traditionally trained coast guard men and women weren't prepared to deal with and hence the reason for the transformation. So yes, a lot of what we done has to do with the interface between working as a law enforcement officer on board an enforcement vessel. But then there has to be an interface in the littorals, and coming in contact with the coast and the beaches and mangrove swamps and that's where we need to be as equally capable as we are on our boats at sea."

Capt. Steven Dally, OC. Security Co-op Team, Belize
"So what we did was, we focused on things like patrolling, marksmanship, hand to hand combat techniques, etc. what we are looking to do is basically build the trainer type aspect here because at some point in time we are going to leave. And we want to enable our partners to do the same while we're gone. so we have our time together here, we're going to work with one another as best we can and as frequently as we can but when we're gone, we're going to make sure that the co coast guard is able to do their thing as well once were gone."

Daniel Ortiz
"Talk to us about the improvement you've seen from the officers."

Capt. Steven Dally
"The guardsmen that I saw 6 weeks ago are not necessarily the same guardsmen that I see here today at graduation. Sure they have the same faces and their same people. They can run a little bit faster and do more pull ups but their more tacitly proficient. They can shoot better and they have a better understanding of the infantry fundamentals that they are going to be using in their operations."

Daniel Ortiz
"How would you rate their proficiency before?"

Capt. Steven Dally
"Their proficiency before was pretty good. I didn't have any kind of expectations coming down here however what I've seen is the ability to improve vastly quickly over just a 6 week period of time. And with that, I've got great confidence of the future courses that we've got here with the BCG."

Daniel Ortiz
"What was it like for you?"

Ensign Paul Garcia, Graduate, Specialized Training
"It's different because I haven't been exposed to it yet, we dealt with infantry, marksmanship. And it's really an eye opener for me because I haven't been exposed to this yet so it was really good. I learnt a lot from it so I'm ready to use it out in the field now."

Reporter
"How will it help you execute your duties as an officer?"

Ensign Paul Garcia
"Well, as an officer I go on patrol, so I'm in charge of a crew. So when I go out, I can execute my missions and tasking better."

4 officers from the first ever class to complete this advanced marine amphibious training, were given special medals of recognition.