Defence Team News | Strengthening ties and security in the Caribbean on Exercise TRADEWINDS
Video / June 26, 2024
Transcript
Being involved in any international exercise where you get the experience of working with partners and allies around the world is incredibly important for Canadians. On TRADEWINDS 24, I'm the designated Canadian Forces Contingent Commander responsible for all the forces deployed in the Barbados AO (area of operation). So, HMCS Margaret Brooke has joined us off of Op CARIBBE and is spending a couple of weeks on the exercise supporting the maritime track.
We also have a contingent from the Fleet Diving Units Atlantic and Pacific, that are teaching dive training to partner nation forces, and we have our task force mentors for the Caribbean Task Force Headquarters from 5th Canadian Division. OPP - the operational planning process - is a tool that we are teaching our Caribbean partners and essentially it's a process of solving problems. It is a command driven, it is a cooperative, and it is a logically sequenced process to solving problems that the task force is presented.
All the training we do is well received here. Canada is seen as a leader in capacity building in the region and we're asked more and more often for more capabilities to come in and instruct and develop across the region. I think being here is always just a matter of meeting new friends, establishing relationships, making sure that if there's ever an issue for Canada that we need to respond in the region, be it for HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) or any other issue.
We have a good solid list of names that we can call when we have to come this direction because we've all worked together. I will definitely be using all of the experience that I've gathered here on Exercise TRADEWINDS to bring back home to my unit to be a more valuable asset.
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