USAV Brandy Military Station was spotted off the coast of San Pedro on Tuesday, June 16th. The 53/10 meter special operation vessel entered Belizean waters on Saturday, June 13th (according to Port of Belize logs) on a special training mission. The USAV Brandy is part of the Exercise Tradewinds, a United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) sponsored training exercise held annually in the Caribbean. The vessel was seen at around 3:30PM attempting to pass the ‘Entrada San Pedro’ cut.
Exercise Tradewinds has two phases, Maritime and Land Operations. On board the vessel is a team of four officers and 36 other ranks from the Coast Guard, and three other ranks as supporting staff. The Maritime Phase took place in St. Kitts and Nevis from Saturday, May 30th to Thursday, June 9th. The Land Operations Phase are being held in Belize from Sunday, June 14th to Wednesday, June 24th. The aim of Exercise Tradewinds is to help Caribbean nations to be better able to counter land and maritime security threats such as human smuggling, and trafficking of illegal weapons and ammunition.
Commanding the vessel is Lieutenant (Coast Guard) Adrian McLean.
