WILLEMSTAD – The Royal Netherlands Army is deploying 184 soldiers to Curaçao and Aruba over the next three weeks as part of the annual Caribbean Engineer exercise, combining military training under tropical conditions with construction and maintenance projects for Defense facilities and the local community.
The soldiers are from the 103 Construction Company of the 101 Engineer Battalion and will carry out a range of engineering activities, including earthworks, construction and technical installations.
In Curaçao, military engineers will expand the vehicle shelter at Marine Base Parera. They will also level parking areas at the Brakkeput Watersports Association and improve two main roads at the Wacawa military training area.
At Wacawa, the soldiers will also install solar panels on the roof of Forward Operating Base Maduro.
Part of the deployment will directly benefit the local community. Military engineers will carry out work at Betèsda elderly care and treatment center, where they will replace sanitary facilities and lighting and make improvements to electrical installations.
In Aruba, the engineers will operate from the Savaneta Marine Barracks, where they will work on the military training village. Existing training facilities will be modified and improved.
A wide range of heavy equipment will be used during the exercise, including loaders, trucks, excavators, cranes, bulldozers and road rollers. As a result, residents may see increased movement of military personnel and heavy machinery on both islands over the coming weeks.
Caribbean Engineer is held annually to give Dutch military engineers experience working under climatic conditions different from those encountered in the Netherlands.
According to Defense, the exercise allows the soldiers to develop and maintain their technical and operational skills while simultaneously completing construction and maintenance projects that would otherwise still need to be carried out on the islands.