The Minister of Defense visits the Marine Corps’ Tercio de Armada.

The acting Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, visited last Friday the facilities of the Marine Corps Brigade ‘Tercio de Armada’ (BRIMAR-TEAR in its Spanish initials) in San Fernando, Cádiz. Upon her arrival, she was welcomed by the Fleet Commander (ALFLOT), Admiral Eugenio Díaz del Río, the Commandant of the Marine Corps (COMGEIM), Major General Rafael Roldán Tudela and the Commander of the ‘Tercio de Armada’ (GETEAR), Brigadier General José Luis Souto Aguirre.

At the unit’s barracks, GETEAR gave a briefing on the organization and tasks of the unit, as well as the evolution of the different operations and international missions that are currently being carried out. Minister Robles thanked the important endeavors that the Marines have done in all these missions, highlighting the most recent ones in Mali or Turkey.

After that, the group proceeded to the so-called ‘San Carlos Plain’ where before a tactical subgroup made up of 230 marines and 34 vehicles, the acting Minister of Defense Margarita Robles conveyed to all of them  ‘her pride for the preparation, training, vocation and willingness to serve, which is an example for the whole country’.

She also pointed out that ‘this long overdue visit to San Fernando was intended to acknowledge and thank the work carried out by the ‘Tercio de Armada’, a very important element of the Armed Forces. A unit that is permanently participating in missions where, as it happened in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey, its endeavors have proved essential to save the lives of many people’.

To conclude, the acting Minister added that the Marines ‘have written heroic pages in the history of Spain and will continue to do so in the future’.

After engaging in conversation with several marines who were in formation, Minister Robles wanted to assure them that ‘Spain as a whole feels very proud of its Armed Forces in general, and of the Navy and the Marines in particular’.