UK military course enriching, says PNG Defence Force officer

Captions: 1. Picture caption: (L-R) Royal Air Force (RAF) Air Commodore Nike Randle receives a gift of a miniature Trobriand Islands yam house from Commander Tau Ila of the PNG Defence Force. Randle is the director of the Cranfield University's Defence Leadership & Management Centre 2. (L-R) Royal Air Force (RAF) Air Commodore Nike Randle presents Commander Tau Ila of the PNG Defence Force with his certificate. Randle is the director of the Cranfield University's Defence Leadership & Management Centre.

 

A senior PNG Defence Force officer has described a seven-week defence management course in the United Kingdom as enriching and one that more army personnel should participate in.

Commander Tau Ila recently returned to PNG after completing the “Managing Defence in a Wider Security Context” course at the Cranfield University in the UK. The university is part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.

The course was funded by the British Government and included participants from military forces from the Commonwealth and around the world.

The PNGDF officer, who will take up a senior posting within the defence force’s human resource department, said the course included a section on managing the welfare and career of officers within the army.

At a debrief with the British High Commission, Commander Ila said: “Any organisation is only as good as the people in it. The seven week course looked at a range of subjects designed to ensure that a modern Defence Force not only values and invests in its people but also gets the most out of them. In addition to specific management training the course also looked in detail at the military and civilian government relationship and governance. In particular, the peacetime role of a modern defence force in fulfilling its security obligations and supporting broader national development goals." 

British High Commissioner to PNG, David Dunn, welcomed the participation of the PNGDF in the course and said it was imperative that all military forces constantly updated themselves with the latest thinking in military doctrine and strategic personnel management.

“I am sure that Commander Ila also took the opportunity to brief the UK and other international course participants from around the world, including Africa, Central Europe and Asia, on the experiences of the PNGDF," he added.