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Southern Command wins Exercise Tiger’s Path

Captain Frederick Amankwa of the Southern Command (left) presenting a prize to the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, Colonel Sampson Adeti.  Picture: Sebastian SymeThe Southern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) remain the undisputed champions after the 2013 edition of Exercise Tiger’s Path organised by the GAF.

They defended the title for the second time in a row in this year’s exercise, which ended last Friday at the Jungle Warfare School (JWS) at Achiase in the Birim Central Municipality in the Eastern Region.

Apart from emerging the overall winners, the Southern Command received a certificate of merit after emerging winners in marshalling drills, shooting and tactical drills, while the Northern Command was adjudged the best in navigation.

The Northern Command was adjudged first runners-up, with the Ghana Navy, Support Services Brigade and the Ghana Air Force taking the third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Exercise Tiger’s Path started in 1991 under the command of a former Commandant of the Military Academy and Training Schools (MATS), Brigadier General Lawrence Appah, and Lt Col Augustine Peter Blay, the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, who was a one-time Commanding Officer of the JWS.

The exercise has been held every two years since its inception based on a concerted effort on search and rescue missions, with the participants embarking on long navigation exercises in which they march on bearings in search of  wounded and fallen combatants.

It involves fitness and endurance that is organised on a competitive basis among the Ghana Army, the Ghana Navy, the Ghana Air Force, the Northern and Southern Commands and Support Services Brigade.

There have been some tactical additions to the exercise, 20 years down the line, in jungle survival, medical evacuation, shooting skills, obstacle crossing, ambushing and offensive tactical operations in a jungle setting.

Newsmen have always been part of the exercise to get them acclimatise to conditions in a jungle environment in order to make them appreciate the readiness of the men in uniform to counter any insurgence against the state in a war situation.

The 2013 edition had journalists from the Daily Graphic, Metropolitan Television, Tv3 Network and Oman fm covering it.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Geoffrey Mawuli Biekro, who addressed the closing ceremony lauded the various formations of the GAF and the efforts put in them and said the exercise was to improve on the operational readiness of the GAF in planning and counter-insurgency.

He called on men of the GAF to exhibit a passion for excellence wherever they found themselves while entreating the citizenry to support the GAF by volunteering information to foil any insurgency in order to protect the national peace.

By Sebastian Syme/Daily Graphic/Ghana

Writer’s email: [email protected]

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