THE WATCH STAFF
Members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) sharpened their skills during recent joint training and exercises with the United States military.
The Bahamas and the U.S. are maritime neighbors whose bilateral partnership is essential to regional stability.
Three Marines of the RBDF Medical Facility completed the Combat Medical Specialist Course at the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston’s Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) in Texas. RBDF Petty Officers Charlon Johnson and Laurell Farrington, and
Leading Seaman Deangelo Bain successfully completed the 16-week intensive course that included emergency medical technician (EMT) training as well as instruction in combat casualty care. The program culminated with a field exercise using realistic battlefield scenarios to validate the students’ new skills.
METC’s programs are available to enlisted members of the U.S. military and a select number of foreign military students.
(Pictured: Petty Officer Laurell Farrington and Leading Seaman Deangelo Bain with Maj. Gen. Dennis P. LeMaster, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence.)
The new combat medics’ knowledge will help to further advance the continuing-education mission of the RBDF Medical Facility, according to the RBDF.
“The Royal Bahamas Defence Force extends a Bravo Zulu [the traditional naval term for “well done”] to these medics and is grateful to international partnerships that enable service men and women to carry out their duties effectively,” the service said in a June 1, 2022, news release.
Also, Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and members of the RBDF worked together recently in Nassau during Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET).
The U.S. and Bahamian Soldiers finished their JCET with a culmination exercise that included an open-water interdiction, an assault on a targeted building and a base active-shooter scenario, according to Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH), the U.S. Northern Command component of U.S. Special Operations Command.
The commander of SOCNORTH is responsible for maintaining existing relationships with regional Special Operations Force organizations in Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas and facilitates their contributions to the cooperative defense of North America. JCET operations strengthen those partnerships as well as increase capabilities and readiness.
IMAGE CREDITS: ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE