Kansas native participates in Caribbean exercise Tradewinds

Photo By Chief Warrant Officer Melissa Leake | Steven Celestine, a member of the Commonwealth of Dominica Coast Guard, practices handcuffing during Exercise Tradewinds 2017 at the Barbados Coast Guard Base in Bridgetown, Barbados, June 9, 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 1st Class Melissa Leake/Released)  

BARBADOS

06.10.2017

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 Matthew Mathewson, an Olathe, Kansas, native is participating in Tradewinds 2017, an annual, multi-national exercise in the Caribbean Sea.

Matheson, a maritime enforcement specialist currently stationed at the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy in Charleston, South Carolina, has been in the Coast Guard for 9 years and 2 months. He joined nearly 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, Matheson, a 2005 graduate of Olathe Northwest 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: 06.10.2017
• Date Posted: 06.10.2017 18:04
• Story ID: 237224
• Location: BB