Good morning ladies and gentlemen I had promised this series before the unfortunate events that happened in El-Adde. As part of honoring our fallen heroes I will go ahead to produce a ten part series that seeks to shade some light on our military institution. I will write about personal experience from my own perspective.Once again the opinions expressed in here are mine and do not reflect on the position held by the kdf.
Joining the kdf is done in two ways those wishing to join as cadets apply and are selected competitively. They train at the kenya military academy at lanet for three years and graduate as 2nd lieutenants. they are known as commissioned officers. Those wishing to join as recruits do so through the popular country wide recruitment they train at the recruit training school at eldoret for close to seven months and pass out as privates they are known as non commisioned officers. This is the basic training and further training and courses are done as one climbs up the ranks.
The kdf is established under article 241 of the constitution of Kenya. It comprises of:
- the Kenya Army popularly known as “Nchi Kavu”
- the Kenya Airforce aka “wana hewa”
- the Kenya Navy aka “wana maji”
They are listed in the order of seniority.
The roles of the kdf :
- defence and protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity of kenya
2.assist and cooperate with other authorities in situations of emergency/disaster
3.may be deployed to restore peace in any part of kenya affected by unrest/instability with the approval of national assembly.
The kdf is governed by set of rules and regulations from the following documents:
- the kenyan constitution
- the kdf act 2012
- defence forces standing orders
- defence forces standing instructions
- code of conduct
- orders that maybe issued from time to time.
Since am from the army i will dwell on it and leave the other two for a well knowledgeable talker to handle…i know of two who are here and many watching from the sidelines.
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Section- this is the basic fighting unit of the army it comprises of 9-14 soldiers depending on the corp. Its divided into two ie the delta team and the charlie team and its commanded by a soldier of a rank of a corporal his second in command is a lance corporal.
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Platoon/troop- several sections make up a platoon an ideal platoon has to between 39-54 soldiers depending on the corp and the number of detachments and attachments to it and its commanded by an officer of the rank of 2nd lieutenant or full lieutenant.
3.Company/battery/squadron-several platoons/troops make up a company/battery/squadron an ideal one comprises of between 125 to 250 soldiers depending on det and attach to it. it commanded by an officer of the rank of major and his second in command is an officer of the rank of a captain.
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Battalion- several companies/batteries/squadrons form a batallion an ideal one has between 800-1200 soldiers. it commanded by a an officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel and his second in command is an officer of the rank of a major who is also responsible for training.
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Brigade- several battalions make up a brigade. its commanded by a brigadier.He is a one star general
6.Corp in this case the army-many brigades make up a corp. Its commanded by a lieutenant general who is a three star general. The other two ie the airforce and the navy are commanded by an officer of the rank of major general who are two star generals.
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The three arms ie the army, the airforce and the army are jointly commanded by the chief of defence forces who is of the rank of a general. who is chosen from the three arms on a rotational basis. His second in command is of the rank of lieutenant general.
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Division - its the highest form of organisation of forces. It commanded by an officer of the rank of a field-marshal currently in kenya we do not have a division.
pt2…military ranks explained