Bayamón, Puerto Rico resident participates in Caribbean exercise Tradewinds

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Stanton | Petty Officer 1st Class Derrick De Torres, a Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser boatswain's mate, keeps communications over a sound-powered device with the bridge during a Tradewinds gunnery exercise June 8, 2017. Tradewinds 2017 is a joint 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. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Stanton  

BAYAMON, PUERTO RICO

06.08.2017

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Melissa Leake 

U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area

By U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – United States Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Derrick De Torres, a Bayamón, Puerto Rico, native is participating in Tradewinds 2017, an annual, multi-national exercise in the Caribbean Sea.

De Torres, a boatswain's mate who has been in the Coast Guard for 14 years and 8 months, joined 2,500 other servicemembers from 20 countries, in Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago from June 6-17, 2017.

Tradewinds, sponsored by United States Southern Command, headquartered in Miami, Fla., is a joint, combined exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime and terrorism, and to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.

During the Caribbean-focused exercise, De Torres, a 1996 graduate of Huntingtown High School, helped ensure a seamless partnership, cross trained with other service members to ensure a better response to natural disasters, and land and maritime threats, including illicit trafficking in the critical region.

“This is a great opportunity for us to get involved with other countries so we can learn from each other” said De Torres. “This is my first time participating in Tradewinds, and I’m very happy to be here.”

Partner nations participating in the exercise include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago as well as military personnel from the United States, Canada, France, Mexico, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

• Date Taken: 06.08.2017
• Date Posted: 06.08.2017 15:15
• Story ID: 236918
• Location: BAYAMON, PR