Colonel Ke­ston Charles has of­fi­cial­ly demit­ted of­fice as the 20th Com­mand­ing Of­fi­cer of the T&T Reg­i­ment, hand­ing over com­mand to Colonel Dwayne Ed­wards.

His de­par­ture comes amid a wider shake-up in the De­fence Force’s lead­er­ship, fol­low­ing the Oc­to­ber 7 re­vo­ca­tion of Air Vice Mar­shal Dar­ryl Daniel’s ap­point­ment as Chief of De­fence Staff. Cap­tain Don Po­lo has since been ap­point­ed to the post.

In his farewell mes­sage to of­fi­cers and sol­diers, Colonel Charles ex­pressed full con­fi­dence in his suc­ces­sor and urged mem­bers of the Reg­i­ment to re­main com­mit­ted to du­ty.

“As I move on, I have hand­ed over du­ties to Colonel Dwayne Ed­wards. I have full con­fi­dence in his abil­i­ties and in your con­tin­ued pro­fes­sion­al­ism and co­op­er­a­tion as he as­sumes this role,” he said.

He thanked the Reg­i­ment for their sup­port through­out his tenure, adding, “Thank you once again for your stead­fast ser­vice and sup­port. Stay strong and bless­ings to you all.”

How­ev­er, De­fence Min­is­ter Wayne Sturge yes­ter­day said he did not send Charles on leave and as far as he was aware, Charles did not re­sign.

“I have re­ceived no let­ter of res­ig­na­tion from Col Charles. As far as I am aware he opt­ed to pro­ceed on leave,” Sturge said.

—Chester Sam­bra­no