Photo By Master Sgt. Tyler Hlavac | A Jamaican soldier scans through the foliage for enemy cobatants during close quarters...... read more read more
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CAMP CRABS, Antigua and Barbuda – Dozens of Caribbean service members ended three days of close quarters battle training with a mock assault at the Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force’s combat town, March 8.
The three day CQB training package was conducted by Marines from 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment as part of exercise Tradewinds 2011. The training package involved a lot of classroom time on the first day, including instruction on weapons handling, moving and entering in an urban environment and how to clear rooms and houses of enemy combatants. Day two involved a practical application of their training and with an assault on a mock town, complete with Marines posing as aggressors and blank rounds for their weapons. The third day was the same as the second, except the Caribbean soldiers and Marine aggressors utilized Special Effects Small-Armed Munitions, which are similar to paintball rounds and leave both a mark and a slightly painful sting upon impact.
During the assault the Caribbean soldiers, divided by nation into groups of five for training purposes, had to advance up a hill and thick foliage to reach the combat town, whereupon the soldiers had to clear the town, eliminate all enemy combatants and secure any simulated drugs or weapons; all while under fire from Marine aggressors. Anytime an aggressor or Caribbean soldier was hit by a SESAM round, they were pronounced ‘dead’ and were out of play.
After leading his team through the scenario and accomplishing the objective, Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force Sgt. Dexter Midnight, a platoon sergeant with Company B, 1st Battalion, Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, explained the benefits of the training for his soldiers.
“The training here is good, [the U.S. Marines] give us something new. With this training you can actually feel a shot and know if you hit your opponent.”
Sgt. Jacob Turner, a squad leader with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, explained the infantry Marine’s guiding principles as they conducted worked with the Caribbean soldiers.
“We are not here to say this is the end all, be all,” Turner said, emphasizing that the U.S. Marine way of doing things is not the only way. “Many of these guys have done something like this for real in their own country, such as having to combat drug lords. We are here to teach them what we know and how to apply it to their own tactics.”
The training was part of exercise Tradewinds 2011. Tradewinds is a joint-combined, interagency exercise involving U.S. personnel from the Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, Joint-interagency Task Force-South, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation along with forces from: Antigua and Barbuda (host nation), Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2011 10:22 |
| Story ID: | 66716 |
| Location: | ST. JOHN'S, AG |
| Web Views: | 220 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Caribbean service members hone CQB skills during exercise Tradewinds 2011, by MSgt Tyler Hlavac, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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