The Royal Bermuda Regiment engaged in its annual Island Warrior exercise at Marine Corps Base Lejeune in North Carolina in April 2024. The exercise focused on socioeconomic tensions, gang violence and rising crime rates. ROYAL BERMUDA REGIMENT
THE WATCH STAFF
Motivated by a desire to improve their operational readiness and learn new urban security techniques, 300 soldiers from the Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) arrived at Marine Corps Base Lejeune in April 2024, where they rendezvoused with troops from other British Overseas Territories — the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands and Falkland Islands — for Island Warrior 24.
After two weeks of rigorous exercises, training sessions and team building, a regimental after-action report was clear: Island Warrior was a success in developing force capability in confronting potential challenges and maintaining order in urban settings.
Lt. LeeAnn Tucker, one of the Royal Bermuda Regiment instructors for the urban operations exercise, said the experience strengthened the regiment’s domain awareness. Camp LeJeune’s expansive training opportunities like “Combat Town” and grueling backcountry drills presented challenges hard to find on Bermuda. “Because Bermuda doesn’t have the training facilities for us to utilize, we go overseas to different bases to train and get the experience that we wouldn’t necessarily get back on the island. We get the fundamentals and theory back at home and we can do so much with what we have, then when we get overseas, we enhance it and practice more,” Tucker said in the after-action report.
The deployment to North Carolina also provided the opportunity for troops from across the region to improve their force interoperability and strengthen relations between the territorial militaries. RBR Maj. Kenji Bean, Island Warrior’s commanding officer, said the sheer range of opportunities to test the force’s capacity was key to Island Warrior’s success.
“Everybody became a team and learned from each other, which was my desire in the beginning. Everybody enjoyed their time working together on the final exercise as well as in the team-building events that ran over the last few days. The ability to use multiple ranges with multiple features and benefits that we don’t get to use at home is a big plus,” he said in the report.
While most soldiers exercised urban operations and warfare operations, RBR’s medics and Regimental Police (RP) trained in advanced medical techniques and public disorder drills. The base’s “bleeding” mannequins and a simulation lab gave medics a unique opportunity to learn new techniques. The RP conducted public-order drills and visited a mock “brig” where they drilled on how to effectively contain an unruly prisoner, the report stated. Cpl. Gary Dowling, the RP’s second-in-command, said: “We have two RPs that joined us right before the trip. To see them go from zero to where they are already, without any other formal training from our side, was amazing to watch.”
Bermuda, population 73,000 and located about 660 nautical miles from the coast of South Carolina, is a valued partner for helping to protect the eastern approaches to the U.S. homeland. The territory continues to improve its force capability and interoperability with its partners.