US strengthens ties with partner nations during live-fire exercise at sea

Photo By Chief Petty Officer Christopher Okula | Trainees from the Dominican Republic fire rounds from a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun into the waters off Saint Lucia during a gunnery exercise held Saturday aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak as part of Tradewinds 2013. Tradewinds is a joint and combined exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime and to conduct humanitarian/disaster relief operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Christopher Okula/Released)  

CASTRIES, SAINT LUCIA

05.25.2013

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Okula 

Navy Public Affairs Support Element

COAST GUARD CUTTER OAK, At Sea – Uniformed service members and maritime police officers from four partner nations bolstered their maritime enforcement capabilities Saturday in a live-fire gunnery exercise off the coast of Saint Lucia during Tradewinds 2013.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak, a seagoing buoy tender, provided the platform for a portion of the exercise. Crew members launched a bright, green buoy into the Caribbean Sea and the crew of the Dominican Republic's GC 109 Orion took turns firing at the target from Oak's forecastle.

U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Asad Hussain, a maritime enforcement specialist temporarily assigned to the Oak, provided instruction to students from the Dominican Republic in their native Spanish language.

“This is an opportunity to get out there, share some best practices and work on coordination,” said Hussain. “So if the day comes when we have to operate in a high-level offensive environment like this, we've already been exposed to each other and have the same operating parameters.”

Students took turns firing from port and starboard-mounted Browning M2 .50-caliber machine guns, which fire cartridges of ammunition approximately the diameter of C batteries. Hussain and instructors aboard neighboring police vessels helped familiarize 48 personnel with the weapons, to include coast guardsmen from Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Lucia's maritime police force.

“The main goal of Tradewinds 2013 is cooperation between partner nations,” said Hussain.

“At the end of the day, we're all mariners. We all do the same job. This gets us out spending time with each other and learning different aspects of our [respective] jobs to see how we can collaborate and try to gain some knowledge,” said Hussain.

Tradewinds is a joint and combined exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime and to conduct humanitarian/disaster relief operations.

• Date Taken: 05.25.2013
• Date Posted: 05.28.2013 22:51
• Story ID: 107672
• Location: CASTRIES, LC