Army strength grows more than 10 fold

Ranil WIJAYAPALA

Sri Lanka Army Chief of Staff Major General Mendaka Samarasinghe said yesterday that the strength of the Sri Lanka Army had grown more than ten fold since its inception in 1949 to date, at the time it is getting ready to celebrate its diamond jubilee as a victorious Army.

He said the Sri Lanka Army’s strength has reached around 200,000 as of today due to the rigorous recruitment drive carried out during the past two to three year period to fulfill the battle requirement to defeat LTTE terrorism.

Addressing the media at the Army Headquarters on the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Samarasinghe said with the increase of its strength it has formed five Security Forces Headquarters, 14 Divisions, six task Forces, 64 Brigades, seven Area Headquarters, two Sub Area Headquarters, 265 regular and volunteer battalions under 23 separate Regiments.

He said the Sri Lanka Army will organize the diamond jubilee celebrations in October not only as a showcase of achievement of the SLA but also to encourage the youth to join the Army as a career and as a noble profession in the future.

He said that the SLA is focusing its attention on the recruitment drive as it need annual replacements.

“We need to recruit 10,000 youth to the SLA for this purpose,” Major General Samarasinghe said. “Apart from its primary role it will also play a big role in the development drive of the country in the future.”