AIR BASE LONDON, Guyana – U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force members conducted fast rope training with multinational partners as part of Exercise TRADEWINDS 23 on July 17, 2023, at Air Base London, Guyana.

Participants included troops from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, and the host nation, Guyana.

A U.S. Army special forces captain facilitating the exercise explained that training in the Fast Rope Insertion and Extraction System (FRIES) enables troops to rapidly infiltrate an objective via a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. “We’ve been training over the last 24 hours to make sure all our partner nations are prepared to conduct this operation and we’re working through, together, different techniques that all the countries use, said the captain.”

He added, “This is a very effective method of infiltration. In a situation where you can’t land a helicopter, this is a very rapid way of deploying troops quickly in order to execute a mission that is time-sensitive, so it’s something that can be used in multiple operations. The shared knowledge helps all our countries have understanding for any future operations we may do together.”

Personnel used the rope to descend out of the aircraft from up to 15 feet.

Constable Rubinia Joseph, of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force’s Special Services Unit, felt “great” after she took part. “I just had the best experience of my life, Joseph exclaimed. It was awesome.”

Joseph added: “I will be taking back the skills that I have just learned because St. Lucia is in a hurricane belt and every year, we have to go through search-and-rescue missions. That skill is one that’s paramount to being able to execute our duties during search-and-rescue a little more efficiently.”

2nd Lt. Dequan Duke, special forces troop commander in the Guyana Defense Force, explained, “This training is to equip our soldiers to quickly get out of helicopters in hostile areas during operations.” He added that the opportunity provided “a great experience” to work with other nations and exchange knowledge.

Tradewinds is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored combined, Caribbean-focused exercise designed to expand the region’s capability to mitigate, plan for and respond to crises and increase regional training capacity and interoperability.

Objectives also include the promotion of human rights and adherence to shared international norms and values and the full integration of women into forces.