NASSAU, Bahamas – New Hampshire Army National Guard Pvt. 1st Class Bryson Desjardins, an Exeter, New Hampshire native assigned to 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment, is participating in Tradewinds 2018 – a joint and multinational military exercise that takes place annually in the Caribbean.
The 2016 graduate of Exeter High School has been in the armed forces for one year. He is joined by 1,700 military and civilian personnel from 21 partner nations in the Bahamas and St. Kitts and Nevis from June 4-21.
Tradewinds, sponsored by U.S. Southern Command, is an annual joint, multinational and interagency training exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to increase regional cooperation in complex multinational security operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
During the Caribbean-focused exercise, Desjardins, an UH-60 Blackhawk crew chief, is training with other servicemembers to ensure a better response to natural disasters and land and maritime threats, including illicit trafficking in the region.
Nations participating in the exercise include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom and the United States.