Exercise TROPICAL DAGGER: A decade of growth and collaboration enhances regional stability and security in the Caribbean basin

December 8, 2022 - Defence Stories

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Exercise TROPICAL DAGGER is a Special Operations exercise led by the Jamaican Deffence Force and supported by the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command that took place from end October to mid-November 2022 in Jamaica.

The tactics used by special operations forces to combat crime and terrorism in jungle, maritime and urban domains were on full display in mid-November, during this year’s Exercise TROPICAL DAGGER – the culmination of Operation ACKEE. Under this operation, Canada is taking a leading role helping Jamaica to grow as a special operations forces leader in the Caribbean basin.

As part of Global Affairs Canada’s Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program, and supported by US Special Operations Command South, Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) has conducted Op ACKEE for more than ten years, helping to enhance regional stability and security.

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Jamaican Chief of Defence Staff, Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman, and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command’s Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Julie Pelletier exchange gifts during the distinguished visitors’ day on November 18, 2022.

Ex TROPICAL DAGGER, the validation component of the training, has evolved over this time into an exercise that Jamaica now spear-heads with support and mentorship from CANSOFCOM. In other words, the students have become the teachers, gradually taking on more of a leadership role as other regional military forces have joined the exercise: Belize in 2015, Trinidad and Tobago in 2018, Barbados in 2019, and Guyana in 2022.

This year’s exercise saw a multinational task force inserted by water-craft and helicopter onto a moored vessel, situated off the coast of Kingston, Jamaica. Their mission: to capture a wanted criminal onboard the vessel.

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Exercise TROPICAL DAGGER is a Special Operations exercise led by the Jamaican Deffence Force and supported by the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command that took place from end October to mid-November 2022 in Jamaica.

Reflective of its regional significance, the exercise was observed by the High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, Emina Tudakovic, Jamaican Chief of Defence Staff, Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman, and CANSOFCOM’s Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Julie Pelletier. The distinguished visitors watched from onboard a nearby Jamaican Coast Guard vessel, as the display of interoperability and high readiness played out.

Brigadier-General Pelletier, applauded the participants at the closing ceremony and congratulated them on “the commitment that each participating nation had shown to enhancing individual, as well as collective skills.”

At a final reception for the visitors, Jamaica’s Rear Admiral Wemyss Gorman relayed that she is “extremely grateful to our regional partners and our supporting partner, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command for their continued support and unwavering dedication.”

Upon conclusion of the week’s events both female leaders agreed that, as partners and neighbors, it is essential that Caribbean nations work together to develop the capacity to engage, train and operate with an aim to detect, deter and combat trans-regional threats.