Caribbean troops arrive for training exercise
It was no ill wind that blew them here as close to a thousand troops from throughout the Caribbean touched down at the Philip Goldson International Airport this afternoon. The men and women from the region’s various defense forces are here to take part in Tradewinds ’98, the annual exercise which for the first time is being hosted by Belize. While the majority of the Caribbean visitors are quite used to sea, sand and sun, they are eager to be let loose on Belize’s towering jungles.
Lt. Commander Wesley Rolle, Bahamas
“Well the Bahamas of course they have no jungle and we’re looking forward to that part of the training. But most of all we’re looking forward to the disaster preparedness phase because more than likely that will be, probably taking part in throughout the Caribbean, disaster preparedness.”
First Lt. R. Compress, Dominican Republic
“This is a great opportunity for us, make training with a lot of countries, to be friendly, work together and lots of things to do.”
Cpt. Eugene Phillips, Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force
“Tradewinds ’98, look forward to be a challenge. From what I understand it will be three rotations. We’re really looking forward towards the jungle fares. We’ve not have much working in jungle type setting and we understand Belize offers good challenge and we’re looking forward for it.”
P.C. William Johnson
“Well it’s very important to unite the Caribbean – standardize the training of the Caribbean so that we can respond wherever necessary.”
Corporal Franklyn Roberts, St. Kitts & Nevis
“It is important because it helps us as soldiers of the Caribbean to come together as one, and united as one platoon… body of soldier together.”
Among the soldiers who arrived this afternoon were those from the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Antigua and Barbuda and the United States.
While it is only the first time that Belize is hosting a Tradewinds exercise, the country is no stranger to regional disaster preparedness activities. Having already proven it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the region, Major Shelton DeFour of the Belize Defense Force says his men and women will once again put their best foot forward, both as hosts and skilled soldiers. Major DeFour says that the next four weeks are going to be challenging, yet at the same time exciting for the troops who will be split into three groups. They will go on weekly rotations to the firing range on Baldy Beacon, amphibious operations in Corozal and jungle warfare in Toledo. The exercise will culminate the last week of April with the simulation of a natural disaster where a hurricane hits Belize and at the same time an enemy takes the opportunity to invade the country.
Major Shelton DeFour, B.D.F.
“We will then deploy a riffle company up north to deal with the threat. We will deploy one down in the south to deal with the threat in the south and the next riffle company will do the follow-on disaster tasks that will be conducted by the security forces right after the hurricane has hit.
It’s just a blank firing exercise if you want to call it that. The only live firing aspect of it is in the Baldy Beacon area and that is contained to the Baldy Beacon Hills where we do live firing. That is a normal activity for the country of Belize that the military conducts from time to time so there is no need for alarm. This is purely an exercise.
We will benefit because we can see how we fit into the scheme of things in the Caribbean as far as dealing with security threats and disaster emergencies. Because we are trying to mesh all these different security forces to form a single standard so that if there is a request from either country, we will be able to go into that country and operate at an acceptable level to accomplish the mission. And we accomplished that in very good results in Haiti for those different missions that were conducted there.”
Closing ceremonies for Tradewinds ’98 will be held on May first, at which time the recipients of awards for various achievements during the exercise will be announced.
