later the bill was passed by the House. It was assented to by the Governor on 22 May 1966 and the Guyana Defence Force legally came into being while its foster parents, the Special Service Unit and the British Guiana Volunteer Force disappeared forever. The Prime Minister defined the ideological framework within which the GDF was to operate and even at this stage, it was clear to see that the Force was intended to be a real, popular, broad-based organisation, integrated with the community, performing peace-keeping, development and defence tasks and under the firm control of the popularly elected government. At that time much stress was placed on the equality of opportunity that was to be given to men and women from all over the country, to the creation of an Engineer Corps to give assistance to the Development programme and to the use of the Force in general for "Public purposes This theme would be re-echoed through the coming years. 5. THE FIRST STEPS Once properly organised as a regular force, progress was swift. Morale was high, enthusiasm strong and the momentum created in the early days, boosted by the energy of hundreds of dedicated young men, carried the Force to new heights of military efficiency. Although the three companies were scattered between Rose Hall in the Corentyne (a legacy of the emergency) for operations, Atkinson on the East Coast for training and Thomas Lands in Georgetown for 'Stand-by' duties, great strides were made in improving standards of performance through well planned exercises, study-periods and