Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Wednesday 10 april 2019

Marine Mingle

SAVANETA — Defense on Aruba is the respon- crew. The Pelikaan is now in Bonaire and will be
sibility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The parting shortly towards the islands of St. Vincent
Netherlands Military forces that protect Aruba & Grenadines to strengthen the diplomatic ties
include the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Neth- in the eastern Caribbean.
erlands Marine Corps and the Netherlands
Coastguard. There is also a small indigenous Ombudsman pays a visit to the military of Aruba
"ArubaanseMilitie" (ARUMIL) of about platoon and Curacao
strength. All forces are stationed at Marines Bar- Civilians are able to send complaints about the
racks Savaneta. government to the ombudsman, Reinier van
Zutphen. The military and the veterans are also
Here are some activities that have been hap- able to approach him which is something that
pening lately with the marines. many don’t know. Due to this, van Zutphen de-
cided to pay a visit to the military of the Carib-
Zr. Ms. Pelikaan battleship is ready to continue bean Defense region. The National Ombuds-
its operation man started his visit in Aruba at the Dutch Ma-
After conducting a routine maintenance check, rine Base Savaneta. Here, he got an impression
the Dutch Marine battleship Zr.Ms. Pelikaan is on the daily life and work of the marines and
ready to continue it daily operation. Inspection the Aruban military. He also got to know the
is an essential part whenever a battle ship un- Caribbean Coastguard, the Maritime Partner
dergoes a maintenance procedure. The ship of the Dutch Marine.
and its crew must show that the equipment is Afterwards a delegation consisting of the Na-
working properly and complies with the safety tional Ombudsman, coordinator of the Dutch the Dutch Marines of Savaneta. The bookstore
standards in case of any calamity such as a fire Caribbean, Veteran Ombudsman Coordinator at the military base called “Toko” updates it
or a collision on sea. Drills, such as rescue train- and Defense, and the Ombudsman of Curacao book collection for the marines and their fam-
ing, equipment failure, towing exercises in part- left to Curacao to visit the Marine Base Parera. ilies every year. These old books that are in a
nership with the Battleship Zr. Ms. Zeeland, were Here they met with, Commander in Chief of good condition will be donated to an organiza-
also conducted in order to test the ability of the the Caribbean Region Brigade General, Pe- tion. Seeing that the seniors of Kibrahacha are
ter Jan de Vin. During their visit the delegation fervent readers, they were chosen to receive
received a complete presentation on the De- this wonderful collection of books. The book
fense & Coastguard of the Caribbean Region. collection was handed over by Leon Berenos
and Chaplain Frank Kamp to the director of
Happy readers at Kibrahacha Kibrahacha, Jeffrey Matos.q
Kibrahacha, the organization for the senior citi-
zens in Aruba, which has been funded many
years ago received a very particular gift from