The Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana, supervised this Thursday in the training camps of the Concepción del Uruguay military garrison, Entre Ríos, the development of the “Ugalde Soldier” exercise, in which more than 1,500 Argentine Army personnel participate for five days, with the aim of “carrying out comprehensive training that will later allow them to face all kinds of complex operations,” it was officially reported.
“It is a pleasure to be here today. It is the most important Army exercise of the year due to the large number of Engineers Arms personnel involved. Around 1,500 personnel participate and spend several days preparing, training, and putting into practice the skills and competencies that this important weapon has,” said Taiana, accompanied by the head of the Army, Division General Guillermo Olegario Pereda.
Officers, non-commissioned officers and volunteer soldiers from the different arms and specialties of that armed force take part in this Army operational training activity.
After congratulating the military authorities in charge of carrying out the actions, Taiana maintained that “I wanted to come and accompany them during these days of training to express my support and to show the relevance of the task being carried out in the Army and in the Engineers weapon, particularly”.
“It should be noted that volunteer soldiers who are finishing their initial training also participate in this exercise,” he said.
He added that “the development of this exercise shows that throughout the year the Armed Forces in general, but the Argentine Army in particular, has not stopped, has continued with its preparation, has fulfilled its objectives and is using the material that we are incorporating”.
A month ago the Minister of Defense had already witnessed the School of Fire exercise in Salinas del Bebedero, where 900 troops and 60 artillery pieces were mobilized.
Taiana stressed that “through the Fondef (National Defense Fund) and the hierarchization of personnel we are going to have more and better Armed Forces, with more quality and more members.”
He specified that “the Army has substantially increased the number of soldiers. We want the figure to rise to 29,000 before the end of the year, because we aim for the barracks to have full units. We want to have an Army with an appropriate number of troops, well prepared and intelligently deployed.
And he emphasized the incorporation of technology “to be able to meet the objective that the President of the Nation has established with the Argentine Defense: to have a defensive, cooperative and autonomous strategy.”
Accompanied by the Secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs, Sergio Rossi, Taiana told the soldiers that “I want to congratulate you for this exercise, and call on you to continue in the effort to prepare to defend the Homeland and so that the world knows that we Argentines are in a position to defend our flag, our land and our strategic resources. We have the will to defend our sovereignty, our freedom and justice.”
The exercise is called “Soldado Ugalde” in homage to Daniel Alberto Ugalde, a hero soldier from Malvinas, who performed compulsory military service in the 601 Combat Engineers Company in Campo de Mayo and died on the islands on June 14, 1982. at the end of the war with Great Britain.
In the exercises that began on October 17 and will continue until this Friday, at the Concepción del Uruguay Military Garrison, means of different origins converge, such as amphibious elements, elements with QBN (Chemical Biological Nuclear) capacity, high performance equipment (machines roads), bridge materials (floating and replacement), specific activities of the army corps of divers and the use and handling of explosives to train personnel according to modern employment requirements, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Said text states that the minister supervised the execution of a crossing operation on the Urquiza stream, which involved more than 1,500 troops of different weapons and specialties, 15 Army units (9 of them Engineers), 140 vehicles, four aircraft and more. of 30 special engineering teams, all integrated by the tactical command and control system of the Argentine Army (SITEA).