Marines offer tougher training in Central American exercise
Marines offer tougher training in Central American exercise
By Hope Hodge Seck , Staff writer 4:44 p.m. EDT June 30, 2015
Marines turned up the heat in Belize during an annual partnership exercise this month, offering more demanding training, as well as new riverine and jungle warfare tracks.
About 250 troops from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean participated in the second phase of Tradewinds 2015 alongside about 100 Marines. Roughly two dozen of those Marines hailed from the brand-new Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-South, which deployed in early June to provide humanitarian support and assistance to Central American nations during the six-month hurricane season.
Other Marines in the exercise came from 2nd Law Enforcement Battalion out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and 4th Civil Affairs Group, a Reserve unit out of Hialeah, Florida. Participating partner nations included Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Officials with Marine Corps Forces South, which oversaw the exercise in Belize, said they were heartened to see partner nations from the area ask for more intense and demanding training patterns this year.
More:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/06/30/human-rights-jungle-training-key-themes-tradewinds/29473739/
