A?“turf war” waged for control of the Barbados Cadet Corps has resulted in the Cadet commandant resigning from his post.
Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Browne who held the post of Cadet commandant since 2004, surrendered that position “with immediate effect” two weeks ago, after losing a legal battle which he brought against the chief of staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), the Barbados Defence Force Board and the Attorney General.
Browne who brought the civil case back in 2009 had submitted to the Court that the Barbados Cadet Corps – which is made up of school cadets – was not a unit of the BDF and that as a result the chief of staff of the BDF could not lawfully issue orders and directives to the Cadet commandant.
But a decision which was recently handed down by High Court Judge Maureen Crane-Scott found that the Barbados Cadet Corps was not an independent entity but an arm of the BDF and “accordingly comes under the jurisdiction” of that military institution and that consequently the Cadet commandant, which was inferior to the rank held by the Chief of Staff, was subject to the orders and directives of the chief of staff as the superior commanding officer.
