BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– Army Command Sgt. Maj. Dave Lanham, 83rd Troop Command, Florida National Guard, took part training military personnel from 20 participating countries during Exercise Tradewinds, an annual Caribbean-focused training exercise.
Lanham oversaw and encouraged armed forces personnel from Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago and the U.S. when they participated in a Tradewinds 2017 range fire training exercise at Paragon Base, Barbados, June 11.
Lanham, a native of Orlando, Florida and a 30-year armed forces veteran, joined 2,500 other service members from 20 countries in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago from June 6-17, 2017.
Tradewinds, sponsored by U.S. Southern Command, headquartered in Miami, Florida, 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 terrorism, and to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
During the Caribbean-focused exercise, Lanham, trained with other service-members to ensure a better response to natural disasters and land and maritime threats, including illicit trafficking in the 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.