BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– Louisiana Army National Guard public affairs specialist Staff Sgt. Josiah Pugh, a New Orleans, Louisiana resident serving out of Jackson Barracks, is participating in Tradewinds 2017, an annual, multi-national exercise in the Caribbean Sea.
Pugh, a 13-year 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, Pugh, a 2014 graduate of the American Military University, photographed, filmed and released imagery of the Tradewinds training that 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.