Lieutenant Colonel Aseri Rokoura cautioned his officers and men ‘to be a soldier at heart’ during his parade held at the RFMF drill square on September 6th, 2019
The Commanding Officer of the Third Battalion Fiji Infantry Regiment who reviewed the Unit monthly parade, led members of the resilient unit with a minute of silence as a mark of respect and to commemorate their comrade ‘Corporal Jeremaia Raloka’ who was call to rest that morning due to a long illness.
Lieutenant Colonel Rokoura greeted his officers and men who represented Echo and Delta companies to the parade and also welcomed his new officers who have been commissioned in the last two weeks. He added that he would also like to thank each and every one of them for the job well done last month and especially to the positive contribution of their mothers and wives for providing the invaluable support to carry out their military undertakings.
LTCOL Rokoura stated that the commander has given his intent to prepare a deployable company. He said that the deployable company will always be on the ready to move if the situation in the Middle East gets worse. He added that it is why a task force assignment led by LtCol Penioni Naliva and Major Veve has already left. He further added that Major Wara also took a company formed of a few soldiers from Echo, Delta and Golf Company. He stated that it was why the territorial forces personals were enlisted as attachment into the 3FIR to beef up the work and the deployable preparation.
“We will keep and stand to our role as security, defender and protector of this nation, the government and its people’s and nothing will stop us. We won’t allow politicians or any social media users to manipulate our role as the guardian of this nation”, LtCol Rokoura said.
“That is why I brought (OC) Officer Commanding Golf, Major Penisio Momau to stand in front of you to be your parade commander,” he said. He added that Major Momau who was a symbol of loyalty at the parade was a corporal at the Sukanaivalu Victoria Cross barracks in Labasa when rebels took over the camp by force. Some officers were involved in the mutiny that day. However, Major Momau managed control the situation. “The Major had done a courageous thing to save a few of his comrades who were kept prisoners in camp until the arrival of the RFMF reinforcement”, he concluded.
Members of the 3FIR held a battalion church service after the parade
