The Royal Bahamas Defence Force will be hosting Tradewinds 2018 in The Bahamas from the 14th to 21st of June. The largest military training exercise of its kind, this is an annual regional military training exercise that will focus on Countering Transnational Organized crime in the region.
During a press conference held at the Defence Force Base, key leaders for the exercise gave brief remarks on their roles over the next few weeks.
Representing the Minister of National Security at the event was the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of National Security, Mr. Eugene Poitier, who said: “Exercise Tradewinds is a United States-led exercise that provides a forum to test and evaluate the collective security capabilities of partner states. This annual exercise promotes regional security cooperation by enabling military forces to provide support for law enforcement, as well as disaster and humanitarian response agencies.”
Commander Defence Force, Commodore Tellis Bethel, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff for the exercise, noted that “Phase 2 will see the assembling of a multi-national CARICOM task force”, said Commodore Bethel. “This Task Force will be given a real world security threat situation involving a high level multinational meeting being held here on the Island where partner nations will put their military training to the test.”
Commodore Bethel also stated that the participation of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Bahamas Customs, and The Bahamas Immigration Department in this year’s exercise was a welcomed change.
Tradewinds is coordinated by the United States Southern Command with the support of Northern Command, as well as forces from Canada and Mexico. Mr. Patrick Moore, representing US Southern Command stated that “this rich history and collaboration has helped build and showcase increased security capacity to address shared challenges in the region; better respond to and provide assistance during a disaster – either natural or man-made; enhance the interoperability of land, air, and maritime forces with interagency cooperation; and especially build relationships and cooperative ties that can be engaged during real-world operations”.
Phase 1 is currently taking place in St. Kitts and Nevis and ends on June 12th. This preliminary training will prepare forces for the final training and implementation phase in The Bahamas.
Phase 2 will consist of 800 participants from 22 partner nations from the Caribbean region, the wider Americas and Western Europe.
Also in attendance at press conference was Commander Patrick Davis representing US Northern Command, Lieutenant Colonel Luigi Andreola, Commander Canadian Task Force, Captain Steven Dearborn of the US Embassy in Nassau, Commander Frederick Brown, Task Force Commander for the exercise, Lieutenant Commander Ricardo Barry, Co-Director of the Exercise Control Group and Lieutenant Commander Sonia Miller, Chairperson of the Tradewinds Secretariat.
RBDF Photo one shows: Key Leaders and participants from Nation Partners at the Tradewinds 2018 press conference on June 7, 2018 at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Base.Seated from left: Lieutenant Commander Floyd Moxey, RBDF Public Affairs Officer, Commander Patrick Davis, representing US Northern Command, Mr. Eugene Poitier, Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of National Security, Commander Defence Force, Commodore Tellis Bethel, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff for the exercise, Mr. Patrick Moore, representing US Southern Command, Lieutenant Colonel Luigi Andreola, Commander Canadian Task Force, and Lieutenant Commander Sonia Miller, Chairperson of the Tradewinds Secretariat.
RBDF Photo two shows: Key leaders for the Tradewinds 2018 press conference on June 7, 2018 at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Base. From left: Lieutenant Commander Ricardo Barry, RBDF Exercise Coordinator for Tradewinds 2018, Captain Steven Dearborn of the US Embassy in Nassau, Commander Frederick Brown, Command Task Force Headquarters Commander, Commander Patrick Davis, representing US Northern Command, Mr. Eugene Poitier, Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of National Security, Commander Defence Force, Commodore Tellis Bethel, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff for the exercise, Mr. Patrick Moore, representing US Southern Command, Lieutenant Colonel Luigi Andreola, Commander Canadian Task Force, and Lieutenant Commander Sonia Miller, Chairperson of the Tradewinds Secretariat.
(RBDF Photos by Marine Seaman Michael Turner)
