The Coast Guard officer training, “Basis Opleiding Kustwacht” (BOK) was re-initiated on August 3, 2020. Last March the training was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

As a precaution, all students from Aruba and St. Maarten at the time returned to their homes and families. The students flew back to Curaçao in June 2020 and last week the training was re-initiated. The students from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten started with great enthusiasm and energy on their first assignment, a tough hike in the “drie gebroeders” area. The “drie gebroeders” are three hills in the rugged landscape of Curaçao.

The youngsters got up very early last Monday and challenged the heat and the rugged terrain of the three hills until noon. In the coming weeks, the 18 students will receive the follow-up modules from the BOK.

Refresher

The entire week was a refresher course of the first training weeks. This regarded the modules they already followed in January and February 2020. During the training weeks, the students were challenged both physically and mentally. Under the guidance of Coast Guard instructors, the youngsters camped in various rough terrains, marched for miles, swam kilometers, cooked, kayaked, built rafts, participated in classroom programs as well as completed amphibious exercises.

Nautical

After the training weeks they followed the nautical education, where the modules of basic rescue training, firefighting, manual VHF and first aid course were included. After this refreshment week the youngsters will continue the BOK program as planned, with next on the planning the weapons and shooting program.

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