PRICE BARRACKS, Belize – Tradewinds 22 wrapped up its two-week training event involving 22 nations, with a closing ceremony at the British Army Training Support Unit Belize May 20, 2022. More than 1800 people participated in the exercise with 644 from the U.S. and 1,158 from our partner nations.
The 37th iteration of the exercise marks the first time two nations, Belize and Mexico, have co-hosted the event. The exercise is designed to expand each nation’s ability to plan and execute multinational operations, counter transnational organized crime, and provide better regional security throughout the Caribbean and Central America.
“Tradewinds 22 is an excellent opportunity for militaries involved in operations across the Caribbean region to enhance skills and strengthen partnerships,” said Ed Rodgers, Deputy Director of Exercises and Coalition Affairs J7/9, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). "Belize and Mexico successfully co-hosted an exercise that connected partners, allies, interagency, and non-government organizations across air, cyber, land and sea domains. Tradewinds was an opportunity for us to exercise our ability to work together across these multiple domains.”
SOUTHCOM organized the training into focus areas covering human rights awareness, marksmanship, jungle warfare, military support to law enforcement, cyber security, riverine training, maritime and dive skills. Each track focused on core skills and ended with a culminating exercise to reinforce lessons learned and integration of new skills. Personnel were dispersed across a wide landscape including events located in the cities of Cozumel and Rio Hondo in Mexico, and Belize City, Manatee, Belize Police Training Center, Turneffe Islands, and Guacamallo in Belize.
The Belize Defence Force (BDF) integrated police officers, prison guards, and other law enforcement personnel in the Tradewinds training alongside their Soldiers. The Belize Police Academy also provided training space to the Joint Interagency Coordination Group to cover a multitude of tactical, interagency, and public order trainings.
The U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group led 235 Servicemembers, through jungle training in Manatee, the largest group to do so during any Tradewinds exercise. The 2022 exercise is the first time individuals completed a rigorous four-week jungle certification course in Guacamallo after living in austere conditions and learning intense survival tactics. These 13 graduates are now certified to train other Servicemembers in the region.
The interagency partnerships were also instrumental to the Belize community. Joint Task Force – Bravo’s medical team and Belize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI) transformed local community centers into field hospitals and hosted four medical events for the local Belizean community. As a result of these field hospitals at Carmelita Government School and Santa Marta, over 1,150 patients received preventive medicines, pediatrics, optometry, and dental care.
“This has been a great experience for the BDF and our law enforcement counterparts to learn with our partners,” said Hon. Oscar Mira, Minister of State in the Ministry of National Defense & Border Security. “We know that the engagement and collaboration during this exercise could help save the lives of our friends and neighbors in the event of actual response requirements.
SOUTHCOM’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) program also integrated their advisors throughout the training to highlight the diverse roles women play as agents of change in preventing and resolving conflict, countering terrorism and violent extremism, as well as building post-conflict peace and stability in our Hemisphere.
“We talk about women’s integration at the highest levels, but how do we do it when we’re doing jungle training, why does it matter when we’re doing interrogation training…,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Duilia Turner, WPS instructor from SOUTHCOM. “That’s what our job is here; to translate those big ideas and really make it practical. So as the [Tradewinds] exercise develops with different scenarios…they have this additional tool, which is understanding gender perspectives, and exercise that…along with everything else that’s being done.”
The participating nations included Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Multiple U.S. military organizations supported Tradewinds 22, to include SOUTHCOM, U.S Northern Command, U.S. Marine Corps Forces South, Marine Forces Reserve, U.S. Coast Guard, and National Guard units from Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia.
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2022 09:17 |
| Story ID: | 422743 |
| Location: | LADYVILLE, BZ |
| Web Views: | 130 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Successful Tradewinds 22 Wraps Up Two-Week Exercise, by 1LT Kristy Singletary, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
