By U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– Louisiana Army National Guard 1st Lt. Danielle Murray of the 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment served as the mission commander for the 241st MPAD at Tradewinds 2017, a U.S. Southern Command directed training exercise hosted by Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago, June 4-17.
Murray, a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and a current resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, is an eight-year armed forces veteran. She joined 2,500 other service members from 20 countries in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago from June 6-17, 2017.
Reflecting on her tenure as mission commander for this overseas exercise, her first, Murray was most proud of how the individual talents of each soldier was put to use to accomplish the mission:
“Each individual is skilled and proficient in their job and takes pride in their work, always striving to improve each product and never settling for mediocrity,” said Murray. “They know what to do without me having to say a word. I am grateful to have been apart of such awesomeness. I wouldn't trade my team or this experience for the world.”
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, Murray, a graduate of Olive Branch High School in Olive Branch, Mississippi, 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.