NASSAU, Bahamas – New Hampshire Army National Guard Sgt. John Mason, a Manchester, New Hampshire resident 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 2003 graduate of Nashua Senior High School and alumnus of Granite State College is an eight-year veteran of the armed forces. 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, Mason 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.