Closing of the Courses at the Mountain and Special Operations Military School

Presentation of diplomas to students

Tribute ceremony to those who have given their lives for Spain

General Bataller presiding over the parade

On Saturday, 9th July, the closing ceremony was held for the 66th Advanced Mountain Course and the 60th Special Operations Unit Command Course on Base "San Bernardo" in Jaca (Huesca), headquarters of the Mountain and Special Operations Military School.

The ceremony included a military parade and the projection of videos on the training received and in tribute to the students who have been undertaking these same courses for 30 years, and it was presided over by General Vicente Bataller, Deputy Director of Army Instruction, Training and Evaluation. The director of the Mountain and Special Operations Military School, Colonel Francisco Rubio, addressed those present to express gratitude for the effort of the students receiving diplomas and of the civilian and military authorities for their support in order to successfully reach the objectives set in both courses.

The Advanced Mountain Course has been successfully completed by 25 students with the bulk of the servicepersons being from the Spanish Army, although an officer from the Argentinean army has also participated.

The knowledge and skills acquired provide the officers with techniques necessary for living, moving and combating, both in mountain terrain and in extremely cold weather conditions, as well as for tactical application of the contents of the study plan and undertaking in instruction and training units with procedures and techniques specific for mountain terrain.

There have been 24 students receiving diplomas in the Special Operations Unit Command Course. Among these, there are servicepersons from all three branches of the Spanish Armed Forces and notable multinational Spanish American participation, although the bulk of officers and non-commissioned officers attending belong to the Spanish Army.

The number one students were Lieutenant Santiago Vera (Special Operations Unit Command Course) and Sergeant Enrique Hernández (Advanced Mountain Course), both form the Spanish Army, who received diplomas from the commander of the Mountain Troop Headquarters, General Gumersindo Veiga, and the commander of the Special Operations Command, General Francisco Arribas Mir.

The training, received from September 2010 and July 2011, will count for future editions to be updated for the demands of new needs, missions and capabilities of the Armed Forces within the national international context.

All in order to continue attaining the prestige that has been reached in its pervious courses The Advanced Mountain Course study plan has phases of basic, specific and application training: practical exercises of climbing techniques have been undertaken in mountainous areas of the Pyrenees and the “Picos de Europa”.

Among other educational activities, the Special Operations Command Course includes practical exercises in parachuting and in the speciality of water combat, which have been respectively undertaken in the localities of Alcantarilla and y Los Alcázares, Murcia Also held recently at the Mountain and Special Operations Military School have been the 7th Army Course in Military Technicians in Half Mountain and in Physical –Sports Activities in the Outdoors aimed at professional troop personnel, in which over thirty service personnel have received diplomas.