CCOPAB carries out the final exercise to prepare BRABAT 21
On 26 October, the Brazilian Peace Operations Joint Training Center (CCOPAB, acronym in Portuguese) started the pre-deployment advanced field exercise (EAOP, acronym in Portuguese) in the city of Santa Maria, the last phase of the preparation of BRABAT 21.
The exercise will be held from 26 to 31 October and it involves 91 soldiers from CCOPAB and 1200 from BRABAT 21 (888 soldiers from the Army, 244 from the Navy, 34 from the Air Force, 31 from Paraguay, 2 from Canada and 1 from Peru).
The objective of the exercise is to simulate, in the city of Santa Maria, all the activities the military personnel will carry out in Haiti. This way, the troops are being deployed in several simulations on the city streets; there is a movement of military vehicles controlled by the direction of the exercise; and, the public security organizations support the actions. Simulations, in which corpses are found, accidents involving military vehicles occur, vehicles hit Haitians, military personnel are evacuated and many others, are executed with a great level of realism.
It is estimated that the troops depart as of 13 November for a tour of duty of 6 months. From that day on, 332 troops from Santa Maria, 127 from Santa Cruz do Sul, 41 from Alegrete, 33 from Uruguaiana, 30 from Rosário do Sul, 30 from São Luiz Gonzaga, 24 from São Tiago, 30 from São Borja, 25 from Guaraí, 29 from Itaqui, 27 from Santa Rosa, 18 from Cruz Alta, 10 from Chuí, 25 from Porto Alegre e 01 Bagé - all members of BRABAT 21 - will be deployed in Haiti.
The execution and coordination of the exercise are responsibilities of the Brazilian Peace Operations Joint Training Center (CCOPAB) - military unit in the city of Rio de Janeiro/RJ, whose mission is to support the preparation of either Brazilian or foreign military personnel, police and civilians for peace missions or humanitarian demining missions.
Translation: CPT ISRAEL
