CHRIST CHURCH, Barbados, June 16, CMC – Military sea and ground forces and police officers from the 15 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations joined United States and Canadian partner forces at a military base here as an annual security and disaster-readiness training exercise known as Tradewinds began its first full day here Saturday.
Over 500 troops are being based at the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Paragon base about 15 kilometres (nine miles) east of Bridgetown, and at coast guard base HMBS Pelican in the Barbadian capital for the nine-day exercise.
“Over the years, Exercise Tradewinds has been recognized as an ideal training framework for improving cooperation and interoperability among partner nations in the efforts to counter the myriad security and other challenges confronting this hemisphere,” said BDF Chief of Staff Colonel Alvin Quintyne as the exercise’s opening ceremony on Friday, held at BDF Paragon.
Now in its 28th year, Tradewinds is a multinational exercise, sponsored by the Puerto Rico-based US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), that trains the region’s comparatively tiny armies and police forces in a land, sea and command post exercise.
