Photo By Sgt. Jessica Ito | A member of the Haitian National Police fires a .50-caliber machine gun during...... read more read more
Subscribe
U.S. COAST GUARD CUTTER RICHARD ETHERIDGE – The U.S. Coast Guard conducted training with the Dominican Republic’s Navy and Haiti’s National Police Force aboard the USS Richard Etheridge, June 22, 2014. The training focused on ensuring the partner nations were familiar with the M2 Heavy Barrel Browning .50-caliber machine gun, similar to the weapons aboard each nation’s respective ships.
“This was the first time for many people that they were able to fire the weapon they have on board,” said Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Gray, the operational planner for the Coast Guard during Exercise Tradewinds 2014.
The gun exercise was just a small part of Tradewinds 2014, a joint, combined exercise conducted in order to improve partner nation counter-transnational organized crime missions and humanitarian aid and disaster response operations capacity.
“The Coast Guard is here to support USSOUTHCOM’s objective of countering illicit trafficking,” Gray said. “That trafficking comes in many ways; human trafficking, trafficking in drugs and weapons.”
The weapons familiarization that took place during the training is helpful to enhance the capabilities of the countries participating. Each nation took turns gearing up and firing the .50-caliber weapon at a large, floating reflective target provided by the Royal Canadian Navy.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Mulrooney, the gunner’s mate aboard the Cutter Etheridge, believes another important piece to the training is the relationships that have been developed throughout.
“The relationships have been great, and very effective,” he said. “It’s great to see partner nations come together for a common objective.”
Gray agrees.
“It seems like the partner nations are really enjoying the training,” he said. “We’re not here to tell them how to do things, we’re here to show them ‘this is what works for us,’ and we’re learning from them as well. This is certainly a two-way partnership.”
Thirteen partner nations are participating in phase II of Tradewinds 2014 held from June 16 through June 25. The exercise is designed to promote interoperability and multinational relationships throughout the theater.
| Date Taken: | 06.22.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2014 08:53 |
| Story ID: | 134016 |
| Location: | LAS CALDERAS, DO |
| Web Views: | 320 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Coast Guard trains with Dominican Republic and Haiti during Tradewinds 2014, by Sgt Jessica Ito, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
