Tradewinds trainees demonstrate skills for V.I.P.s
Today was the day that soldiers, seamen, and police officers from around the region got to show off their recently honed skills. News Five’s Kendra Griffith has the latest from Tradewinds 2007.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Today over fifty officials from the sixteen countries participating in Tradewinds 2007 were given a tour of the activities.
Lenroy Brewster, A.C.P., St. Vincent and Grenadines
“The areas that we have visited, I am very, very much impressed.”
Lenroy Brewster is the Assistant Commissioner of Police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which has fourteen members participating in the exercise.
Lenroy Brewster
“My personnel mainly comprise of police officers, but semi-paramilitary from the Special Service Unit. … Our contingent normal duty is that of civil unrest, they do a lot of static security on the ground, and a lot of drug interdiction within the hills of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
“Having seen what is taking place on the ground here, St. Vincent and the Grenadines can benefit highly from what is being taught here. I am very, very much impressed with what I have seen so far.”
Also on the list of visitors was Deputy Commander of U.S. Southern Command, General Glenn Spears. The United States has over four hundred men and women providing support and training during the exercise, a fact not lost on his host.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, Cmdr., Belize Defence Force
“If you wonder around the camp you will see the vehicles, the laundry unit, the food preparation trailers that have been brought in to support this exercise. It’s a very large part of the exercise.”
At a press conference this afternoon Commander of the Belize Defence Force, Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett and General Spears told the media of the importance of the annual exercise.
General Glenn Spears, Deputy Commander, U.S. South Com
“Tradewinds provides the opportunity for the United States and our partner countries throughout the Caribbean to experience this very valuable humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other cooperative training so that together the sixteen nations who are represented in this particular exercise can all improve our abilities to provide for the security of our own nations and the security of this region.”
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett
“A lot of the countries engaged in Tradewinds have seen the traditional threats to their countries disappear. There are no more border clashes, there is very little of that happening in the Western Hemisphere and so the focus has changed to deal with the main threats to our countries, which from June to November are hurricanes. There are internal security situations that may arise after a hurricane and so we have decided over the years to change the focus of Tradewinds to be able to support the more likely scenarios that will affect our countries.”
This afternoon the officials held an after action review to decide the destinations and focus of Tradewinds for the next five years. The 2007 exercise winds down on Wednesday with a parade at Price Barracks. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
In addition to martial arts and crowd control, the soldiers and police officers participating in Tradewinds received training in disaster management, humanitarian assistance, field firing, hazardous materials training, and small boat repair and handling.
