Photo By Sgt. Spencer Rhodes | Captain Salim October is a Guyana Defense Force Reservist who works as a Senior...... read more read more
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SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES (June 18, 2019) – Capt. Salim October, whose been in the Guyana Defence Force for 22 years, is supporting the Tradewinds 2019 exercise as a subject matter expert for the Regional Observer and Assessment Team, who give input on the success of each simulated event and make suggestions for improvements for future Tradewinds planning.
“I’m a senior response officer, and my role back home is to coordinate all response efforts to hazards that impact my community and national landscapes,” said October. “I use that as a benchmark of my experiences, I’m now engaged with the ROAT. I bring my experiences to the table and evaluate a number of incidences that are being played as part of the serial injects at exercise Tradewinds,”
His favorite aspect of the annual event has been his interactions with foreign entities and the different setups for events across St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“I have two favorite things about Tradewinds: I get a chance to interact with various personnel of different militaries and civil organizations, and really to build a greater appreciation that some of the challenges that I face back home are the very challenges being confronted in many countries, including St. Vincent,” said October. “I also, get to see how various equipment is being utilized and deployed. I am particularly impressed by the Barbados Defence Forces’ setup of the field hospital. It is something that I have taken great note of and hopefully when I return home I can make recommendations to implement something like that.”
This year, Tradewinds will take place in three phases. The first phase will take place in the Dominican Republic May 30 – June 8. The second phase will take place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines June 14-21. The final phase will take place in Doral, Florida July 16-18.
Tradewinds, sponsored by U.S. Southern Command, is a joint, multinational, and interagency training exercise focused on building increased regional cooperation in complex multinational security operations, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
Nations participating in the exercise include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, France, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, the Netherlands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and the United States.
| Date Taken: | 06.18.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2019 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 328241 |
| Location: | VC |
| Web Views: | 527 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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