Recruits listen keenly to their instructor during weapons training. - photos by Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

IT MIGHT be high in the cool, green mountains of St Andrew, far from the congestion of city life, but this is no vacation spot. You can tell by the dozens of worn-out uniformed men sweating buckets close to the entrance. They're all wearing green suits and trying their darndest to follow orders being yelled by an older man in khakis, standing in front of them.

If that's not convincing enough, the sporadic gunfire might help you understand that this is no place for the lily-livered.

This is the Jamaica Defence Force's (JDF) Newcastle training depot and today, new recruits are out early getting instructions on how to march in unison.

The expansive facility was set up back in 1841, primarily because British troops in Jamaica were falling victim to the dreaded Yellow Fever disease in alarming numbers. Newcastle's high elevation was meant to keep the men safe and the disease at bay.

Now the fact that a new batch of recruits is being trained is nothing out of the ordinary, but this happens to be the 100th intake of recruits being trained by the JDF since 1962, when the island was made independent. It's also special because the force will soon stop using Newcastle as its primary training base, because of logistical reasons. So, this cycle of training, which will see around 108 recruits graduating in May, is historic on several grounds. A Gleaner team visited the base recently to capture highlights of the training in action.

He isn't exactly known for being a big teddy bear, but Sergeant Michael Grant (red sash) knows how to get his point across.

These are the quarters in which the recruits live while they are being trained. They might be pretty and of course, really clean, but with the gruelling schedule the recruits keep, they hardly have time to enjoy their surroundings.

Yes, he is on his knuckes and yes, that is asphalt.

Straighten up those shoulders! Sergeant Michael Grant (red sash) shouts marching instructions to the recruits under his watch.

Mommy? Is that you? Young recruits are often forced to learn their lessons the hard way.