Monday, September 29, 2014

Ebola: Navy screens officers at route march


Ebola: Navy screens officers at route march
At the third quarterly ‘route march’ exercise organised by the Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC), 1,000 naval personnel were screened for the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The screening preceded a 10-kilometre walk. As early as 6 am on Saturday, the officers trooped out from NNS Quorra parade ground and walked as far as Liverpool and detoured at Apapa roundabout to find their way back to base.
The Navy Band was on hand to aid the ever-ready combatant men and women, who were chanting war songs, while an ambulance was trailing them. At the parade ground, an officer took them on various exercises. The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), NAVTRAC, Rear Admiral Goddy Anyankpele, who spoke through the acting FOC, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo, expressed satisfaction over the performance of those who participated in the exercise. He said: “I am indeed highly impressed by our conduct…

An exercise of this nature demonstrates one thing: if we decide to move together, we can accomplish much more than you can individually. I wonder how many of us will tell you individually to take a 10-kilometre walk on a morning like this. “But what we have experienced this morning, we could see that we can do it together without any feeling or fatigue or anyone dropping; that in itself goes in line with (the vision of) those who established Nigerian Navy with the motto: Onward together.”
Osinowo said the exercise was part of annual schedule. “The route march is among those evolutions that we conduct on a quarterly basis; that is at the command level, not only to demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship, but also that of espiritde- corps.”
According to him, the route march is part of the naval agelong tradition that has had an impact on the men and women who have demonstrated the ability to move together. “You could see the morale of men as they sang all through without anybody dropping. It shows that even on board the ship, which is the basic unit of the Navy, that is the way we are expected to fight,” he added.
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