Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0017/00175.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 34KB | 534 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00175}
$Pretitle{273}
$Title{Argentina
Chapter 5C.   Operational Command, Deployment, and Equipment}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Phyllis Greene Walker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{air
argentine
army
naval
military
included
service
first
aires
buenos}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Argentina
Book:        Argentina, A Country Study
Author:      Phyllis Greene Walker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Chapter 5C.   Operational Command, Deployment, and Equipment

     In 1985 the armed forces were divided into three services, the Argentine
Army (Ejercito Argentino), the Argentine Navy (Armada Argentina), and the
Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina). The air force was the youngest
of the three branches of service, having been given its own command
independent from the army in 1945. Included under the command of the navy were
naval aviation and the marines. The army also had a small air wing. According
to the proposed reorganization, two of Argentina's paramilitary forces, the
National Gendarmerie (Gendarmeria Nacional) and the Argentine Naval Prefecture
(Prefectura Naval Argentina), fell under the direct authority of the Ministry
of Defense. The third force, the Federal Police, remained subordinate to the
Ministry of Interior (see The Ministry of Interior and Internal Security, this
ch.).

     Each of the armed services was commanded by a chief of staff who was a
member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In August 1985 Brigadier General Hector
Luis Rios Erenu was army chief of staff; Rear Admiral Ramon Antonio Arosa, the
navy chief of staff; and Major General Ernesto Horacio Crespo, the air force
chief of staff. For the first time in Argentine history, an air force
officer-Major General Teodoro Waldner, the former air force chief of staff-was
in command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (As of August 1985 Rios Erenu and
Waldner were soon expected to be promoted to major general and lieutenant
general, respectively-ranks that corresponded with their new billets.) These
command appointments had been in effect since early March 1985, when new
chiefs of the army, air force, and of the joint chiefs of staff were named by
President Alfonsin in the second major military shake-up of his
administration. The first crisis in July 1984 had led to the resignation of
the army chief of staff, a command whose loyalty was critical in maintaining
civilian authority over the armed forces.

     For 1983, the latest year for which complete published data were
available, the International Institute for Strategic Studies' The Military
Balance, 1984-1985 estimated the strength of the Argentine armed forces at
some 153,000 full-time professional soldiers, a small percentage of a total
population of about 30 million. These personnel were complemented by some
108,000 youth fulfilling their obligatory military service and another 250,000
reservists (see Conscription and the Reserves, this ch.). By 1984, however,
the number of youth inducted into military service was believed to have
dropped to fewer than 50,000, evidence of the drastic measures imposed to cut
back the military budget. Based on efforts by the Alfonsin administration to
constrain defense spending, it was unlikely that total military manpower would
increase substantially, if at all, during the final half of the decade.

The Argentine Army

     In 1983 the Argentine Army was composed of some 100,000 active-duty
professional soldiers who were complemented by some 80,000 conscripts. By
mid-1985 the number of professional troops was believed to have dropped to
some 65,000 personnel, primarily because of budget cuts. The number of
conscripts completing their year of military service with the army also had
been reduced to between 32,000 and 35,000. The army's traditional dual
mission-that of guaranteeing national defense against foreign threats and
conserving domestic peace-remained unchanged in the mid-1980s.

     The commanding officer of the Argentine Army in mid-1985, Brigadier
General Rios Erenu, was the third individual to hold that post since the
inauguration of President Alfonsin. He was scheduled for promotion to major
general, a rank corresponding to his post as army chief of staff. Before his
appointment to that position in March 1985, Rios Erenu had served as the
commander of the Third Army Corps. Even though he was known as a "young
officer," his appointment had forced the retirement of six more senior
generals, making him the highest-ranking army officer. He was reportedly
associated with the legalist faction within the armed forces. Some Argentines
tied his record to activities carried out during the so-called dirty war;
nevertheless, he was noted as the first army general to have received in his
garrison representatives of the presidential commission investigating the
abuses under the previous military government (see The War Against Subversion,
this ch.).

     The headquarters of the Argentine Army's general staff was located at the
Libertador Building, which was the site of many military ceremonies in
downtown Buenos Aires. Army troops deployed throughout the country were
distributed among five military regions and four army corps commands. The bulk
of army troops were deployed in the vicinity of Buenos Aires, where some 40
percent of the nation's population lived. The most important army base was the
Campo de Mayo, located on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires.

     In October 1984 the First Army Corps, which was headquartered at the
Palermo Barracks in downtown Buenos Aires, was disbanded by presidential
decree, along with other smaller units of military police, "electronics
operations companies," and "advance intelligence organizations" that were
based in the cities of Buenos Aires, Bahia Blanca, and Fray Luis Beltran.
Command over troops deployed in the territory of the first military region was
assumed by the Fifth Army Corps.

     The territory, formerly under the First Army Corps' command, included the
city of Buenos Aires and almost all of Buenos Aires Province. The Argentine
government noted that the corps was dissolved for budgetary reasons, yet there
was some speculation that the political activities of its commanding officers
might have been a factor in the government's decision. Personnel garrisoned at
the Palermo Barracks traditionally played a significant role in Argentine
military politics. The Fifth Army Corps, headquartered in Bahia Blanca,
previously held command over troops stationed in southern Buenos Aires
Province and the country's three southern provinces-Rio Negro, Chubut, and
Santa Cruz-as well as the National Territory of Tierra del Fuego.

     Each of the military regions under the command of the three remaining
army corps was much smaller in terms of territory. The Second Army Corps,
headquartered in Rosario, commanded troops deployed in the second military
region, encompassing the provinces of Santa Fe, Chaco, Formosa and, in the
region of Mesopotamia, the provinces of Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Misiones
on the eastern bank of the Rio Parana. The Army Third Corps had its
headquarters in the city of Cordoba and was responsible for troops deployed in
the third military region, made up of the provinces of Cordoba, Santiago del
Estero, Tucuman, Salta, Jujuy, Catamarca, La Rioja, and San Juan. The Fourth
Army Corps was headquartered in Santa Rosa, La Pampa Province, and commanded
all troops deployed in that province as well as those in Mendoza, San Luis,
and Neuquen-territory corresponding to the fourth military region.

     Brigadier generals customarily held the commands of the army corps. There
was no definitive structure with respect to the kinds of military units
assigned to each army corps. Infantry and cavalry brigades were the largest
troop formations in the Argentine Army and were usually composed of three
regiments. In the early 1980s major formations that were under the command of
the First Army Corps included an armored cavalry brigade and a motorized
inf