Tradewinds 2010 is in Belize. It is a military exercise sponsored by
the US Army and it brings together 17 nations who converge on Belize for training.
Jim McFadzean visited Price Barracks today to see how the training was going.
Jim McFadzean Reporting,
Security forces from the USA, United Kingdom and 15 Caribbean Basin Partner
Nations, spread out across the BDF’s training grounds to participate in
a number of realistic training scenarios like this one, aimed at better coordinating
the partner nation’s fighting abilities to counter transnational threats
such as terrorism and illicit trafficking.
Lt. Col. Chris Yates, U.S. Public Affairs Officer
“The focus of the exercise in Belize this year is largely focused
on security issues, policing issues, crime scene investigation, properly handling
of evidence, tactical infantry skills such as we talked about martial arts,
marksmanship, and small arms out at the range. They will be firing rifles both
with the US Marine Corps and the FBI will be in your close quarters, I am not
sure what you call that facility but it is kind of like your close quarters
which simulating a building, a residence, so they will be using techniques to
clear the rooms.”
Military forces are receiving training from some of America’s best and 
most seasoned, coming from the Marine Corp, as this reporter found out.
Sgt Wilder, US Marines
“We’ve all handled weapons numerous times, been deployed in
theatres of war such as Iraq and stuff like that goes, some of us have been
to Africa and these are weapons we typically handle every time we handle weapons
so we are all very proficient with them.”
The 12 gauge shotgun is a multi purpose weapon and used primarily in close
quarters and is favoured by law enforcement officials in riot control situations,
where it can shoot both lethal and non-lethal ammunition.
No one nation has all the answers to the ever-changing and evolving transnational
threats to the region, and that’s why Tradewinds 2010 directs its efforts
at improving the cooperation and collaboration of regional partners in approaching
the challenges of a new millennium with a multi prong approach.
Lt. Col. Trent Blackson, U.S. Marines Exercise Co-Director
“As threats tend to evolve over time we are seeing more of a kind 
of blending of police and military functions in some cases. In many cases, especially
in the Caribbean military people actually respond to what are traditionally
police type activities. An example would be the interdiction of a vessel or
an aircraft involved in illicit trafficking. The first response might be your
Coast Guard, it might not be a police agency. It might be a vessel that is manned
by soldiers from one of the maritime services or one of the ground services.
So I think it is critically important these two soldiers receive police type
training so that they can example don’t contaminate crime scenes, they
don’t destroy evidence and enable us to better process those persons once
they are processed.”
Most of the participating small nations of the Caribbean are relying more and
more heavily on this joint military/police approach as criminal activity escalates
and manpower and equipment remain a premium in combating this scourge. Jamaica
understands this challenge intuitively.
Leftenant Rowe, Jamaica Defense Force
“Our biggest challenge for the Jamaica Defense Force, we work along
with the Constable Force, the police, we work along with them and our main concern
now is crime and with this exercise they are focusing on law enforcement which
will in turn assist us when we go back to Jamaica.”
Belize’s security has been facing new challenges, both internally and
externally and in a country where roadblocks have become common, the BDF along
with the Police and other Law Enforcement officials have combined their resources,
to meet what seems like an almost insurmountable challenge. However, it’s
hoped that exercises such as this one will boost the odds against the criminals,
making Tradewinds 2010 an important event for law enforcement officials.
Lt. Col. Ganney Dortch, BDF
“This exercise will provide us with a platform from which we can effect
law enforcement operations in Belize. As you know we have a very good close
relationship with the Belize Police Department and this exercise is good for
us to further magnify and for us to look at how we can further cooperate in
terms of intelligence gathering intelligence sharing, collection of evidence
at the crime scene, how we can best support each other. So Tradewinds is for
us to magnify this effort and cooperation that we’ve had in the past.”
Training will focus on regional defense, consisting of two phases:
green and blue. The green phase which is being hosted by Belize will provide
a tactical-level training venue to exercise core infantry skills, policing and
investigative techniques. Jamaica is the host country for the blue phase which
will focus on Maritime Interdiction Operations, compliant and noncompliant boarding
and various maritime related training. Belize Defense Force has a contingent
of soldiers in Jamaica participating in the Blue phase exercise.
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