Argentine National Gendarmerie
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The Argentine National Gendarmerie (Spanish: Gendarmería Nacional Argentina, also abbreviated to GNA) is the gendarmerie of Argentina.
The Argentine National Gendarmerie has a strength of 12,000.
The gendarmerie is primarily a frontier guard force but also fufils other important roles. The force functions from four regional headquarters at Campo de Mayo, Córdoba, Rosario and Bahía Blanca.
The Argentine gendarmerie calls itself the "sentinel of the motherland and peace" (spanish: Centinela de la Patria y de la Paz).
Personnel and training
Non-commisioned personnel of the gendarmerie are all volunteers and receive their training in the force’s own comprehensive system of training institutions. Officers graduate after a three-year course at the National Gendarmerie Academy. Both officers and non-commissioned personnel have access to the specialist training establishments of the Army.
History
The gendarmerie was created in 1938 by the Argentine parliament, and replaced the regiments of the Army which previously fulfilled the gendarmerie’s missions. The gendarmerie was particularly tasked with providing security in isolated and sparsely populated frontier regions which had only been settled relatively recently. In many senses the gendarmerie may still be considered an adjunct of the Argentine Army.
Activities
The gendarmerie’s mission and functions are fulfilled within the domestic security as well as the national defense framework, supporting the foreign policy of the country.
According to the Argentine Constitution, the armed forces cannot intervene in internal civil conflicts, so the Gendarmerie is subordinate to the Interior Ministry. However, it maintains a functional relation with the Ministry of Defense, as part of both of the National Defense System and the Interior Security System. It therefore maintains capabilities arising from the demands required by a joint military planning with the armed forces.
The gendarmerie’s main missions are:
- Providing security for Argentina’s borders.
- Providing security for places of national strategic importance (e.g. nuclear plants).
- Policing missions:
- *Assisting provincial police sevices in maintaining public security in rural areas
- *Preventing smuggling
- *Fighting drug trafficking
- *Fighting terrorism
- *Crimes “against life and freedom” (children and organs trade, slavery, etc).
- *Dealing with economic crime
- *Dealing with environmental crime
- *Dealing with illigeal immigration
- Military missions:
- *War-fighting missions, e.g. in the Falklands War.
- * Peacekeeping or humanitarian aid missions under the United Nations.
- * Providing security for Argentine embassies and consulates in several foreign nations.
Organization
High Command
The high command includes:
- The National Director.
- The Deputy National Director
- The General and Special Staff of the National Direction of the GNA
Rank structure
The ranks of the Argentine gendarmerie, in ascending order, are:
Sub-Officer ranks
- Corporal
- Corporal First Class
- Sergeant
- Sergeant First Class
- Sergeant-Adjutant
- Principal Sub-Officer
- Sub-Officer-Major
- Sub-Ensign
- Ensign
- First Ensign
- Second Commandant
- Commandant
- Principal Commandant
- Commandant-Major
- Commandant-General
Unit structure
- The section (spanish: seccion) is a squad.
- The group (spanish: grupo) consists of several sections and is the basic operational unit of the gendarmerie.
- The squadron (spanish: escuadron) consists of three groups.
- The grouping (spanish: agrupación) consists of several squadrons. The grouping may be thought of as roughly corresponding to the level of command of a regiment.
Operational units
- Regional Headquarters
- Mobile Units
- Special Forces Units
- Intelligence Squadron
- Highway Security Sections
- Environment Protection Service
- Mountain Rescue Groups
- Scrubland Special Section
Support units
- Logistics Squadron
- Telecommunications and Computer Service
- Expert Investigation Service
- Aviation Service
- Medical Assistance Service
See also
External link
- () [Official website]
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