Tradewinds 2018 Overview
Tradewinds 2018 is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-directed, U.S. Southern Command-sponsored annual exercise conducted in cooperation with Caribbean Basin partner nations. This exercise dates back to the mid-1980s.
Tradewinds supports the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), as well as U.S. Southern Command’s goal of building partner nation capacity at the tactical and operational levels.
The exercise is designed to conduct joint, combined and interagency training which focuses on increasing regional cooperation for complex multinational security operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
Participants
About 1,700 personnel will take part in all phases of the exercise.
Nations Involved
Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, 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.
Participating regional organizations include the Regional Security System (RSS), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), and CARICOM.
U.S. Forces Involved
U.S. participation includes U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy Reserve, U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Army National Guard, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, and U.S. Army National Guard.
Training
This year’s Tradewinds has three phases. Phase I will include land operations and will take place in St. Kitts. Phase II will include maritime and land operations and will take place in and off the coast of the Bahamas. Although the most visible portions of this exercise are the maritime and field portions in Phase I and II, there is a Key Leader Seminar scheduled from July 17-19 in Miami, Florida, for key stakeholders and decision makers from within the region.