On June 2, Brigadier General Edward Collins took command of the Guyana Defence Force, an organisation he joined some three decades ago as an officer cadet. He is one of the two new heads appointed to the disciplined services recently.
He is the fifth Chief of Staff since Guyana became independent and the second locally trained officer to be appointed to that post. The first is his immediate predecessor Maj Gen Michael Atherly who retired last month.
Brig Collins was born at No 40 Village West Coast Berbice but spent most of his years growing up at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo, as his father a policeman was stationed in the area. He attended the Philadelphia Scots School and his secondary education was obtained at Zeeglut Secondary School and Normal Educational Institute.
Brig Collins joined the GDF at the age of 21, as an officer cadet in 1973 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on July 24, 1974. He was promoted to the ranks of Lieutenant in 1978, Captain in 1980, Major in 1982, Lieutenant Colonel in 1991, Colonel in 1997 and Brigadier General in May 2004.
His contemporaries on his Officer Cadet Course were Cols Chabilall Ramsaroop, who is now his deputy (it is the first time that the No 1 and 2 positions are held by graduates from the same course) and Joseph Harmon who has retired and is now an attorney-at-law, Ronald Gajraj, who is Home Affairs Minister and an attorney-at-law, and Stanislaus Ellis, who is the Training and Develop-ment Officer, Guyana Power and Light Company.
Brig Collins has held a number of posts in the GDF including Officer Command-ing the Special Skills Division (1976), Officer, Commanding the Col Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School (1982), Commanding Officer First Infantry Battalion (1986), Commanding Officer, First Infantry Battalion Group (1995), Commander, First Infantry Battalion Group (1997), and has been Colonel of the General Staff (ag) (1998) and substantively appointed to the post in 2000, the position he held until his elevation to Chief of Staff in May.
Brig Collins has also served overseas as Commander of the Caricom Contingent during the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) from March to September 1995.
His military training includes the Company Commander Course - Peoples' Liberation Army, People's Republic of China - 1975/1976, the GDF's Junior Staff Course - 1977, the Combat Team Commander Course - United Kingdom - 1980, the Canadian Forces Staff Course - Toronto, Canada, 1984, the Canadian Land Forces Command & Staff Course, - Kingston, Canada, 1985, the GDF's Military Law Course - 1988, the Civil Military Strategy for Internal Special Operations School of Defence and Development - US Air Force, Fort Walton Beach - 1994, the Command and General Staff Course - Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, 1996/1997, the Law of Armed Conflict - Canada 1998, the Advance Con-tinental Defence Course, IADC -Washington, USA 1999/2000.
Apart from his military training, Brig Collins is a graduate of the University of Guyana from which he graduated with a BSc in Public Management in 1996 and of the Central Michigan University, United States of America from which he graduated in 1997 with an M Sc in General Administration.
The Chief of Staff is the holder of the Military Service Medal, the Border Defence Medal, the Military Efficiency Medal and the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Medal. He is a member of the Board of Directors, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and currently serves as Chief of Guyana's Delegation to the Inter-American Defence Board. Brigadier Collins is married and the father of three daughters.