Bermuda’s governor and high-ranking Royal Bermuda Regiment officers met with counterparts in Jamaica’s Defence Force in May 2025 to share best practices for defense. ROYAL BERMUDA REGIMENT
THE WATCH STAFF
Bermuda’s governor and high-ranking officers in the Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) met with their counterparts in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in May 2025 to share best practices and explore closer collaboration between the militaries. Gov. Andrew Murdoch, who also serves as the RBR’s commander-in-chief, led the Bermuda delegation, which met with JDF Chief of Defence Staff Vice Adm. Antonette Wemyss-Gorman and other officials during the annual Rum Runner Exercise, which was hosted by Jamaica.
Wemyss-Gorman led the effort to update Jamaica’s defense plans in 2021 and offered valuable insight to the RBR, which is revising its 2014 defense plan, according to an RBR news release. Gathering input from stakeholders who can provide advanced technology alternatives to current practices was an important lesson from Jamaica’s defense update, she told RBR officials. Wemyss-Gorman’s experience offered a road map for Bermuda’s modernization plans, Murdoch said. “As work starts on shaping the approach to Bermuda’s security and defence review, over ten years on from the last exercise of this kind, it was invaluable to hear from those involved in the recent Jamaica Defence Force review,” Murdoch said in the release. “While the JDF is significantly larger than the RBR, as an island nation there are many lessons we can learn from their experiences. I was particularly struck by the recommendation that we ensure we tap into those with knowledge of cutting-edge technology to identify potential new options to respond to security and defence risks that we face now and in the future.”
Jamaica’s National Service Corps has become the dominant enlistment portal for recruits since 2017, easing efforts by the government to attract and retain full-time Soldiers. The one-year program makes candidates eligible not only for JDF careers but also for police and other uniformed services. Across the Caribbean, notably in The Bahamas, similar programs have created and sustained a pipeline of personnel for defense forces.
The meeting’s value was enhanced by the reestablishment of face-to-face contact between the nations, which have historic ties to the United Kingdom, RBR Lt. Col Duncan Simons said. “The regiment has a long history of exchanges with the JDF and training in Jamaica dating back to the 1960s. As we had not trained in Jamaica for nine years; it was important for us to re-engage,” he said. “Wemyss-Gorman’s warm welcome and support for continuing and growing this relationship promises to strengthen both organisations,” he said. Simons, the RBR’s commanding officer, accompanied Murdoch to the meeting. Also representing Bermuda were Honorary Col. David Gibbons and retired Maj. William Madeiros, the chairman of Bermuda’s Defence Board.
Exercise Rum Runner 2025 brings together Soldiers from several British Overseas Territories each year. Bermuda sent 116 RBR members to the exercise to train alongside troops from the Cayman Islands Regiment, the Falkland Islands Defence Force and the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment. The JDF also participated in parts of the exercise, according to the Royal Gazette, a Bermuda newspaper.