The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) for the second consecutive year has won the Run and Shoot Competition at Exercise Tradewinds held in Antigua and Barbuda last month.
A GDF release said that troops from Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic Defence Forces placed second and third respectively in the competition, while a team from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) outran and outshot their CARICOM counterparts in the same competition and was presented with a trophy for its effort.
According to the press release, the GDF won the competition in 1999 when the exercise was held in Guyana and they repeated the performance last year in Trinidad & Tobago.
The champion troops arrived in Guyana on April 28 and soldiers from Camp Stephenson warmly greeted and congratulated them before entertaining them at the poolside.
Commander, First Infantry Battalion Group, Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Benn on behalf of the Chief-of-Staff also welcomed home the victorious troops.
The GDF contingent which comprised 118, including 18 ranks from the GPF and nine Officers and 36 Ratings from the Coast Guard, left Guyana between April 4-11 to participate in the exercise.
The troops from the Coast Guard contingent sailed into the exercise aboard the GDFS Essequibo.
The release said this was the first time in the 16-year history of Tradwinds Exercises that a Marine Headquarters was established where a flotilla including the GDFS Essequibo participated in sea operations.
Staff Officer, First Infantry Battalion Group, Major Sydney James was the second-in-command of the CARICOM battalion during the exercise.
Participants in the exercise were drawn from the seven member nations of the Regional Security System (RSS) - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia.
Other participants that are not members of the RSS were The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Belize, Jamaica, the United States of America and Trinidad & Tobago.
The exercise is an annual one and it facilitates co-ordination and networking of the security forces of the region in preparation for eventualities where these forces may be required to operate as a unified force.
The RSS was born out of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the seven member nations to provide mutual support for each other.