Instruction
In Portugal, the commandos were born in
war and to do war. The instruction had the objective of
preparing them and had two characteristics - the practice and
realism – based on two aspects: the combat technique and the
psychological preparation. All this having as foundation the
physical and psychic selection with high standards, although
these decreased as the war dragged on.
The psychological preparation to war was
perhaps the aspect that most distinguished the commandos. Its
objective was to transform the man into a self-disciplined
soldier, competent and effective in combat, able to fight in any
situations and conditions. The psychological component was,
probably, the most striking component of the instruction,
assuming that its main weapon was one’s will.
To perfect the will’s domain over all
other instincts, the commando instruction’s physical demands
reached the limits of the recruit’s resistance, aspiring to make
each one the master of his own will.
Organization and Evolution
In its first phase, the commandos
organized into independent groups composed of volunteers from
Infantry battalions, forming their intervention units. The
success of these groups meant that rapidly they started to be
used under commander-in-chief’s and military commanders’ orders,
to conduct special operations. The Groups' organization
(example):
- one command team (one officer, one
signaler, one medic, two soldiers)
- three maneuver teams (one NCO, four
soldiers)
- one back-up team (one NCO, one RPG
soldier, one ammunition soldier, two soldiers)
This organization of a group to five teams
and each team to five men suffered adaptations, but the
base-cell, the five-men team, remained throughout the war.
The war’s evolution revealed the necessity
of more commando soldiers and independent units, capable of
operating during longer periods and being self-sustained:
reasons that led to the creation of commando companies. The
first company was formed in Angola and its instruction started
in September 1964. Its commander, Captain Albuquerque Gonçalves,
received the unit’s banner on February 5, 1965. The second
company had as its destination Mozambique, commanded by Captain
Jaime Neves.
The organization and organizational
principles of the Portuguese commandos, inspired by the French
Foreign Legion and in the Belgian Para-Commandos, are
established in great mobility and creativity and in
Counter-Guerrilla combat techniques, very well defined and able
to support permanent innovation.
The composition and organization of the
commando companies were always adapted to the circumstances and
situations, although throughout the war it’s possible to verify
two main models, that originated what we can call light
companies and heavy companies. The former were composed by four
commando groups, each one with four sub-groups, constituting 80
men and with little back-up components. These companies had
little capability to maintain themselves, independently, during
long periods of time, because they were meant as temporary
reinforcements to units in small square, like intervention
forces, and received from those units the necessary support. In
these companies, the mobility and flexibility were privileged,
and were initially used in Guinea and Mozambique. The heavy
companies had five, five-team commando groups, in a total of 125
men, together with a formation of service personnel, of about 80
men, with medics, signalers, transport soldiers and cooks.
Another type of organization was adapted to the companies of
African commandos, formed in Guinea and composed of metropolitan
soldiers when needed, a bit like the American special forces did
in Vietnam with the "advisers".
The war’s evolution, the necessity that
started to exist of fighting in big units in Guinea and
Mozambique and to, sometimes simultaneously, conduct special and
irregular actions, led to the creation of commando battalions in
those two theatres. This function of mother-unit was, in Angola
and since its foundation, performed by the Centro de
Instrução de Comandos (Commando Instruction Centre), that
also needed to adapt, separating the instruction activity and
gathering the operational units in a base in Campo Militar de
Grafanil (Grafanil Military Camp), near Luanda, although it
was never completely independent the operational use under a
specific command. As big commando units the Centro de
Instrução de Comandos (Commando Instruction Center), in
Angola, the Batalhão de Comandos da Guiné (Guinea
Commando Battalion) and the Batalhão de Comandos de
Moçambique (Mozambique Commando Battalion) were formed.
Although Angola’s Commando Instruction
Centre was the home and it was in that centre that the main core
of doctrine of use and mystique of the commandos were formed,
all battalions gave instruction to their staff and formed units
to intervene in the operations theatre. Beyond this centre, that
prepared units meant for Angola and Mozambique and the first
commandos of Guinea, also in Portugal a commando centre was
created in CIOE – Centro de Instrução de Operações Especiais
(Special Operations Instruction Centre), in Lamego, that
instructed units mobilized to Guinea and Mozambique.
In its history, the commandos were formed
in Zemba (Angola) after June 25 1962, in Quibala (Angola) since
June 30 1963, in Namaacha (Mozambique) since February 13 1964,
in Bra (Guinea) since July 23 1964, in Luanda (Angola) after
June 29 1965, in Lamego (Portugal) since April 12, 1966 and in
Montepuez (Mozambique) after October 1, 1969. After the
Colonial War, Portugal gave independence to all of its
colonies and all the commandos started to be instructed in
Amadora (Portugal) since July 1, 1974. The CIOE remains active
to this day and, tasked with training and instructing the
Special Operations soldiers; a whole different unit, created in
the 1980s and popularly known in Portugal as Rangers. The CIOE
also gives special operations training and instruction to
various units of the Portuguese military and Police forces and,
as of 2006, it is called CTOE.
After
the War
Portuguese commando soldiers that
participated in active operations: more than 9000 men (510
officers, 1587 NCOs and 6977 soldiers) that integrated 61
companies.
Combat casualties:
- 357 KIAs (killed in action)
- 28 MIAs (Missing In Action)
- 771 wounded
The commandos constituted about 1% of all
the forces present in the Colonial War, but the number of their
deaths is about 10% of the total of the casualties; a percentage
ten times more than that of regular forces. It’s also generally
known that the commandos eliminated more guerrilla fighters and
captured more weaponry than the other forces. These
characteristics made them the only ones to get a mystical aura
that remained after the war.
After the war, the commandos continued to
develop their skills until 1993 when they were disbanded. This
decision was influenced by a number of deaths during
instruction. The commando soldiers were merged with the
Paratroopers and these were transferred from the Air Force to
the Army. But in 2002, the commandos were reactivated as an
independent unit and the Batalhão de Comandos (Commando
Battalion) was created. They are now based in the Centro de
Tropas Comandos (Commando Troops Centre) in Mafra. They were
deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, where a Sergeant was killed by
a roadside bomb; the first commando KIA since the end of the
Portuguese Colonial War.
Selection
- Must be a Portuguese citizen
- Must be at least 18 years-old
- Pass a medical and psychological exam
Physical Tests:
- run 2500m under 12 minutes
- 47 sit-ups under 2 minutes
- 5 continuous chin-ups (palms forward)
- 20 push-ups
- jump a 3 meter ditch
- jump a 90 cm-high wall
- walk a 5 meter-high portico
- swim 15 meters
The physical tests are easy to complete,
which allows the commandos to have large numbers of recruits;
useful because there will be a lot of drop-outs during the
instruction. After passing all the tests, the recruits will
start the instruction.
Most of the instruction’s schedule or
nature is unknown to the recruits. That means that they must be
constantly ready and, to the smallest indication, present
themselves on the parade ground or where they are ordered to,
and follow whatever the instructors say. It might happen that
they stay un-interrupted in instruction for more than a day, or
that they have to conduct their daily lives during the night.
The unforeseen and surprise are fundamental characteristics of
the instruction. Each recruit must also be self-controlled: they
have to dominate the reactions that, otherwise, might be normal
if they were not future Comandos. All the demands made in the
instruction are not obligations: each recruit has the right to
refuse to do whatever he is ordered to. Obviously, doing this
means that he is off the course.
When a recruit successfully completes the
instruction he is badged as a commando and receives the famous
red beret. The badging ceremony (like other traditions of the
Comandos) is inspired by old Portuguese military orders (these
were forces that, in medieval Portugal, were tasked with
surveillance and intelligence in peacetime; first resistance in
the defensive and first attack in the offensive; they were also
the strongest forces during wartime).
Video
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comandos
