Ceremony announces beginning of exercise Tradewinds 2011

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Tyler Hlavac | U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Harry Schmidt, the commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence, addresses U.S. Marines and 21 partner nation coast guard, law enforcement and ground forces gathered at Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force’s Camp Blizzard for a short ceremony March 1, to celebrate the start of exercise Tradewinds 2011.  

ST. JOHN'S, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

03.01.2011

Story by Cpl. Tyler Hlavac 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South

CAMP BLIZZARD, Antigua and Barbuda - U.S. Marines and 21 partner nation coast guard, law enforcement and ground forces gathered at Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force’s Camp Blizzard for a short ceremony March 1, to celebrate the start of exercise Tradewinds 2011.

Each nation had a color guard for the event and displayed their flag. During the short ceremony, participants were greeted by Camp Blizzard base commander, RABDF Maj. Randolph Best and U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Harry Schmidt, the commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence, based in Wilmington, N.C.

Best began the ceremony by outlining his vision and stating the goals for the multi-national exercise.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step; now is the time to reap the harvest of all our planning. Let us keep in focus the need in for collaboration in our collective efforts to fight terrorism, illegal drug and arms trade, and smuggling in all its various forms.”

Schmidt concluded the ceremony with his own speech, emphasizing more than just tactical gains for the nation’s involved in the exercise.

“Tradewinds is important because it brings nations in the Caribbean and the Americas together. Everything we (will) do, we do with the idea of executing missions down the road. The camaraderie and friendships we build in the next two weeks is as important as the work we will do.”

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.

Tradewinds will focus on regional defense, Peace Keeping Operations and Counter Illicit Trafficking Operations through law enforcement, basic infantry and maritime operation training tracks.

Antigua and Barbuda have hosted Tradewinds twice in the last decade; in 2002 and in 2005. Antigua and Barbuda is about 2.5 times the size of the District of Columbia and has a population of 86,754, according to the Web site www.cia.gov.

• Date Taken: 03.01.2011
• Date Posted: 03.02.2011 19:46
• Story ID: 66361
• Location: ST. JOHN'S, AG