Oct 9 2020

SOLDIERS FROM LANDCOM RECOGNIZED BY SPANISH LAND FORCES FOR CREVAL EXCELLENCE

IZMIR, Turkey – Portugese Army Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Cardosa (Allied Land Command G5) and Spanish Army Master Sergeant Domingo Miguens (LANDCOM G9/DCOS PLS Office), both from the Spanish Army, recently returned from a NATO monitoring mission for the evaluation of the Spanish 2nd Light Infantry Battalion (“Zamora”) where they conducted the in-barracks and field maneuver phases near Zaragoza, Spain from 9-21 September, 2020. LANDCOM is responsible for executing SACEUR’s Evaluations Program for all NATO Land Forces CREVALs, or Combat Readiness Evaluations.

In addition to conducting Corps-level CREVALs, like those planned for Gloucester, UK-based Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) and Istanbul-based NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Turkey (NRDC-TUR) later this year, LANDCOM is also responsible to organize and provide NATO monitors for approximately 20 Battalion-to-Division size CREVALs each year, all conducted at the national level. LANDCOM G7 organizes all CREVAL activities for LANDCOM, both at the Corps/Headquarters level and unit level.

The CREVAL for the Zamora Battalion is one such unit level evaluation. Lieutenant Colonel Cardoso and Master Sergeant Miguens volunteered to execute this particular monitoring mission, and ensured that the Evaluation Team from the Spanish Land Forces Command conducted the CREVAL in accordance with NATO standards and policy (Allied Force Standards Vol VII, SAGE20, AD 075-13, etc).

Both LANDCOM monitors concluded that the Zamora Battalion performed very well, the CREVAL team was well prepared and executed their tasks professionally, and that Spain overall undertook a great effort to physically deploy the unit from the barracks to a large training area in Zaragoza to conduct a full-scale and very impressive exercise. In their words it was “a great outcome.”

As a token of their appreciation, the Zamora Battalion, in coordination with Spanish Land Forces Command, presented two gifts to LANDCOM at the end of the CREVAL for LANDCOM’s Commander, Lieutenant General Roger Cloutier Jr., to present on their behalf.