Belize hosts JTF-Bravo’s AGILE BEAR 2.0 and Sentinel Watch

Joint Task Force-Bravo's premier multinational foreign humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercises, AGILE BEAR 2.0 and Sentinel Watch, were hosted in various locations across Belize, July 21-26, 2024.

For more than 40 years, JTF-Bravo has been conducting HA/DR operations in Central America, the Caribbean and South America.

"I remember my first hurricane when I was 10 years old, and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter came to Belize afterwards to help - I found out later the helicopter was coordinated by Joint Task Force-Bravo," said Belize Coast Guard's acting vice commandant Lt. Cmdr. Alma Pinelo. "It is always a pleasure to have Joint Task Force-Bravo in Belize and the troops were excited for this."

AGILE BEAR 2.0, formerly known as Keel-Billed Toucan, is a weeklong exercise that conducted the Foreign Disaster Relief process at Price Barracks, familiarization training at the Belize Defense Force Air Wing in Ladyville, and a search and rescue helocast event off the coast of Sibun Bight.

On July 21, the exercise kicked off with the U.S. Southern Command's Situational Assessment Team loading onto two 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment's CH-47F Chinooks and a HH-60 Black Hawk at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras.

The SSAT is a deployable team of experts that can identify U.S. military capabilities needed and available to support U.S. foreign disaster assistance led by U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

These JTF-Bravo experts from medical, engineering, public affairs, communications, civil affairs and aviation traveled approximately 460 miles to set up a command post at the Belize Joint Intelligence Operations Center at Price Barracks, Belize, along with USAID's BHA and in coordination with the British Army Training Support Unit-Belize.

"We provide a safe place for training and work with different organizations to utilize Price Barracks," said British Army Training Support Unit-Belize commander Lt. Col. Alan Somerville.

The JIOC is where the SSAT and USAID's BHA practiced the Foreign Disaster Relief process using the Mission Tasking Matrix, known as a MITAM, by tasking JTF-Bravo's aviation assets and engineering drone.

USAID's BHA is the lead U.S. federal agency for foreign disaster response and submits specific requests for Department of Defense unique capabilities using MITAM.

When JTF-Bravo is requested for its unique capabilities, they work in a supporting capacity to save lives and alleviate suffering by conducting operations, such as search and rescue operations, and transporting assessment teams and humanitarian aid to austere environments.

One of the MITAMs was for JTF-Bravo's engineering drone called the eBee Tactical Survey Drone to provide post-damage assessments for recent fires in the Toledo District of Belize. The eBee TAC is capable of capturing geospatial imagery of an area affected by a natural disaster to help emergency personnel safely respond to future disasters.

At the Belize Defense Force Air Wing in Ladyville, JTF-Bravo led familiarization training with the Belize Defense Forces and Belize Coast Guard. The training consisted of the 1-228th AR's rescue hoist operations using the HH-60 Black Hawk helicopter as a static display and Army Forces Battalion's medical team demonstrating lifesaving techniques that can be used in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Over 55 BDF and BCG members participated in this year's AGILE BEAR 2.0.

"During hurricane season, JTF-Bravo is focused on HA/DR crises," said U.S. Army Col. Daniel Alder, JTF-Bravo commander. "Primarily, our focus is on capability building with our partners."

While in Belize, Alder met with the U.S. Ambassador to Belize Michelle Kwan, the British High Commission Kingston's Defence Attaché Caribbean Lt. Col. Keith Brewster, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Commander Maj. Gen. Evan Pettus, BATSUB, BCG, BDF and Belize's National Emergency Management Organization, who hosted Sentinel Watch at their headquarters.

Simultaneously during AGILE BEAR 2.0, the Sentinel Watch exercise was being conducted.

Sentinel Watch is a tabletop exercise where Belize's NEMO collaborated with JTF-Bravo and USAID's BHA on natural disaster response options. Together, they learned each other's capabilities and worked on a standard operating procedure for HA/DR operations.

AGILE BEAR 2.0 saved its top event for last, a search and rescue helocast jump off the coast of Sibun Bight near the BCG Headquarters.

In preparation for the helocast, the BCG's safety boats and team moved into position accompanied by JTF-Bravo's medics.

Then to mimic a SAR mission, JTF-Bravo personnel released a fluorescent green sea dye marker to signal the 1-228th AR's CH-47F Chinook carrying the BDF and BCG members.

The Chinook hovered over the water as the BDF and BCG members had the opportunity to do a helocast or free-drop from the helicopter into the water.

This training provided a waterborne, controlled environment creating realistic SAR training.

On July 26, both exercises concluded with a closing ceremony at the JIOC that was presided over by Army Forces Battalion's Commander and SSAT Officer in Charge, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Carl Schreier.

In attendance, were JTF-Bravo, BATSUB, BDF, BCG, NEMO and USAID's BHA.

"Thank you to our partners and personnel, who contributed to these two successful exercises to help create a unified force in Belize," said Schreier.

Central America is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, and JTF-Bravo's AGILE BEAR 2.0 and Sentinel Watch continue to fortify Belize with the knowledge and resources to mitigate the effects of a natural disaster along with USAID's BHA.