Gainsville resident participates in Carribean exercise Tradewinds

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Melissa Russell | 170607-N-RG360-0205 Florida Army National Guard 2nd lt. Ryan Noblitt, assigned to Delta Company, 1-124 Infantry, 53rd Brigade Combat Team, takes a selfie with local schoolchildren and another soldier in his unit, Staff Sgt. Edward Roseman during a community relations (COMREL) event on board Paragon Base. The students visited the base to participate in a Tradewinds 2017 COMREL event that allowed local school children to meet with members of the armed forces from multiple participating countries, ask them questions, and check out their equipment up close. Tradewinds 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. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Melissa K. Russell/Released)  

GAINESVILLE, FL, UNITED STATES

06.07.2017

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Melissa Russell 

241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – Florida National Guardsman and Gainesville resident, 2nd Lt. Ryan Noblitt, is participating in Tradewinds 2017, an annual, multi-national exercise in the Carribean Sea.

Noblitt, who has been in the Florida National Guard for five years, 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, Noblitt a 2010 graduate of Rockridge 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

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: 06.07.2017
• Date Posted: 06.08.2017 17:31
• Story ID: 236925
• Location: GAINESVILLE, FL, US
• Hometown: COLUMBIA, MO, US