The 3rd Battalion Fiji Infantry Regiment has completed a three week military exercise named ‘Exercise Victoria Cross’ in Vanua Levu.

RFMF Chief of Staff Brigadier General Jone Kalouniwai says the exercise is designed to lift the operational readiness of the 3FIR, which involved the use of various weapons.

He says the main objective of the exercise was to up skill all 3FIR members which has been hailed as a show of stability for the Fiji Military Forces.

Commanding Officer 3FRI Lt Colonel Penioni Naliva says the exercise is purely a military activity and has nothing to do with the various speculations on social media.

” This exercise was not done for the election. It was done purely for 3FIR and it was planned way before the election date had come out and it has no relation to the election.”

Meanwhile, twenty-two women were also part of the three week exercise with some of them from the Fiji Police Force.

This is the first time this annual exercise was conducted in Vanua Levu.