Canada promotes interoperability with Caribbean partners in SOUTHCOM’s Tradewinds exercise

Canada’s recent participation in the 38th edition of Operation Tradewinds achieved the goals of strengthening relations with allied militaries, deepening its knowledge of the Caribbean and increasing the interoperability of the Canadian Armed Forces with the forces of 20 other nations, Canada’s Department of National Defense said. .

Tradewinds, a two-week multinational exercise held in July in Guyana, involved more than 1,500 participants, including military, civilian and law enforcement personnel, according to a US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) press release.

The exercise focused on maritime interdiction, land security, and field training.

Events included forest certification. exchange airborne wings and simulate oil spills and floods; Human rights training; And instructions related to the Women, Peace and Security Initiative, according to the statement.

Participants trained in Guyana at Georgetown, Camp Ayangana, Camp Stevenson, Camp Sioyo, London Air Base, Guyana Police Academy and Makuria Jungle Amphibious Training School.

The Canadian detachment, made up of about 20 soldiers, was involved in operational planning and disaster relief, according to a video released by Canadian National Defence.

Lt. Col. Stephen Hill, who led the detachment, said the main goal was to learn more about their Caribbean allies and geography, while educating their counterparts about Canadian operations.

“Canada’s real key goals here are to increase interoperability and improve our situational awareness in the area,” explained Lt. Col. Hans. Colonel. Hill in the video.

Major Mark Kutty said he mentored junior officers in the Guyana Defense Force on tactical planning, before being posted to the Caribbean Task Force Operations Centre, to direct operations staff.

Capt. Kimberly Irvin said the Canadians taught the other participants the basics of operational planning.

“Our role in the beginning was to make them comfortable with how to process that information. Then, little by little, as the exercise progressed, we would pull back and let them run the show,” Irvin said.

Guyana, the host country, also expressed its satisfaction with the result.

“Tradewinds 23 has shown that when nations come together for a common goal, we become a better sum of our parts,” said Maj. Jaime Castillo, Guyana’s chief exercise planner, according to a Southern Command statement. “This exercise has highlighted the importance of international cooperation, interoperability and the shared responsibility we have to ensure a peaceful and stable world.”

Participating countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominica, United States, France, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent. The Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

“For 38 years, we have come together to build the capabilities of partner nations, strengthen partnerships, improve interoperability, and advance human rights,” said U.S. Army General Laura J. Richardson, commander of Southern Command, during the closing ceremony. “The trade winds are a multi-dimensional, multi-domain exercise and organizing them is no easy task.”

“I would also like to note that this year’s exercise was the most complex in Tradewinds’ 38-year history,” General Richardson noted. “Transnational criminal organizations, malicious government actors, cybercrime, environmental climate change, and irregular migration continue to “Growing in scope and intensity, posing a major national security challenge for all of us and the Western Hemisphere.”