Soldiers return from regional training
It’s become a regular part of military and police training throughout the region. This year the Exercise Tradewinds 2000 was held in Puerto Rico. Today 43 Belizeans returned from the two-week operation.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The BDF soldiers and members of the police force spent two weeks in Puerto Rico getting trained in internal security, law enforcement and disaster relief operations. The men worked shoulder to shoulder with soldiers from 10 CARICOM countries.
Major Edison Ogaldez, Commander, Belize Contingent
“It is a critical exercise that we meet friends out there, we see how they operate, so that we are prepared if they are any natural or man made disasters that occurred here or elsewhere in the Caribbean.”
The exercise, Tradewinds 2000 lasted two weeks. Although the training was not new, the soldiers say it did strengthened their skills.
Theodolfo Chun, Cpl., Dragon Unit
“We learnt a lot about charts and navigating on the sea finding reference points and so on.”
Andrew Coc, Warrant Officer Class Two
“I believe the importance behind it is that one, the Belize team or the Belize contingent the Belize Defence Force on a whole, got the chance to one, understand, two to integrate and three to work among the CARICOM forces as we have been doing for the past 8 to 10 years now.”
This is the 7th Tradewinds exercise that Belize has completed. Every year participants are chosen based on their professionalism, discipline and years of service in the BDF and the police.
Betran Noralez, Sgt. Major, Support Company, BDF
“What I will remember the most because I was the Company Sergeant Major of B Company and under B Company we have three different platoons. We have a platoon from the Dominican Republic, we have one from Guyana and we have one from the Belize Defense Force Platoon. What happen is that the people from the Dominican Republic, they can’t speak English, so we had to have interpreters for them, so it was a bit challenging.”
The next Tradewinds exercise is scheduled to take place in Trinidad and Tobago in 2001.
Ten Caribbean nations and the United States of America participated in Tradewinds 2000.
