A contingent of 51 Jamaica Defence Force members embarked on a three-week training mission to the United Kingdom as part of Exercise ‘Wobble.’ The group, including chaplains, sailors, and technical personnel, were at 15 different facilities. This initiative compensates for the cancelled Calypso Hop of 1969, offering participants vital opportunities for professional development.

Published Sunday, January 4, 1970

Exercise ‘wobble’

JDF soldiers off to Britian

A troop-carrying, four-turbo-prop engine CL30 Hercules aircraft of the RAF Air Support Command took off yesterday afternoon for England, carrying 51 members of the JDF on what is described as Exercise ‘Wobble.’

Those participating in this exercise are drawn from various units within the Defence Force and will attend a range of training courses.

The Rev. Kitson-Walters, Chaplain to the JDF, is attending a course at the Chaplains' School, while 2Lt. Ian Chambers will attend a course in Army accounting. Four sailors from the Coast Guard will be attached to a Royal Navy small ships unit, and the rest will participate in courses as clerks, medical orderlies, engineers, fitters, storemen, and similar roles.

In total, attachments will be made to 15 different establishments in the U.K. The exercise will last three weeks, with the party returning on January 25.

The plane, captained by Squadron Leader Dalton-Morris, arrived yesterday directly from England. It is based at the RAF station at Fairford in Gloucestershire and has a crew of six.

This exercise is not a routine one, a military spokesman said, but rather compensation to the JDF for the cancellation of the regular Calypso Hop of 1969. That exercise was cancelled due to the British Army being too heavily engaged to spare the battalion needed for it, preventing the Defence Force from sending the contingent that normally goes to the U.K. annually for training purposes.

The party was seen off at the airport by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Col. F.K.N. Mascoll, along with other staff officers, families, and friends of those participating.

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