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$Unique_ID{bob00145}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Brazil
Chapter 5C.   Administration, Organization, and Training}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{military
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$Date{1982}
$Log{}
Title:       Brazil
Book:        Brazil, A Country Study
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 5C.   Administration, Organization, and Training

     Under the Constitution the president is the supreme commander of the
armed forces. In the broad area of national security, he is assisted at the
top governmental level by a complex structure of agencies and offices that
have overlapping membership and seemingly overlapping responsibilities.
According to the Constitution the CSN is the highest level advisory group for
national security policy. The president is designated presiding officier of
the CSN, and the vice president and cabinet ministers are listed as members ex
officio.

     The chiefs of the Civilian Household (Casa Civil), the Military Household
(Casa Militar), and the National Intelligence Service (Servico Nacional de
Informacoes-SNI), all of whom enjoy ministerial rank, are also in the CSN,
raising the membership to more than 20. But the Constitution also states that
by the law that regulates the organization, competence, and functioning of the
council, others may be admitted as ex officio or special members. In the early
1980s it was believed that the membership, in addition to those named, also
included the chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (Estado-Major das Forcas
Armadas-EMFA), the chiefs of staff of the three armed services, and the
various high-ranking generals and admirals who commanded the most important
organizations and bases. In effect, the size of the CSN membership seemed
large for its designated purpose, but some outside observers have expressed
the opinion that the top military officials have the strongest voices in
advising the president on security policy and decisionmaking (see
Constitutional Basis, this ch.).

     The president was also advised on subjects dealing with the armed forces
and with national security by the three members of his cabinet who headed
the service ministries, that is, army, navy, and aeronautics. Some analysts
have concluded that even though the president was supreme commander, the
three service ministers held a great deal of power within their respective
services. The ministers of army, navy, and aeronautics in late 1982 were
General Pires, Admiral Maximiano Eduardo da Silva Fonseca, and Lieutenant
Brigadier Delio Jardim de Mattos, respectively. As ministers they were
members of the CSN but were also called on for advice concerning their
specific services in addition to their input to the major security body. A
proposal to establish a defense ministry, made after the military takeover
of the government, was set aside because of opposition from navy and air
force officers who feared domination of such a central ministry by army
generals.

     The president was also able to call the members of the EMFA for direct
consultation if he desired to hear from the armed forces chief of staff and
the three service chiefs outside the CSN structure. Among the functions
assigned to EMFA by decree-law are "to elaborate and propose to the President
of the Republic principles, norms, and directives referring to subjects
common to the Armed Forces." EMFA had a large staff of military personnel and
civilians assigned to sections for personnel, intelligence, operations,
logistics, mobilization and statistics, research and development, training,
health, cartography, communications, and industry and technology. The office
of the chief of staff of the armed forces does not have inherent power
because the individual services have jealously guarded their individuality
and have not surrendered any of their prerogatives to the ostensibly higher
body. In day-to-day peacetime operations, for example, the chief of the
EMFA cannot be compared to the chairman of the joint chiefs in the United
States structure.

     Another ostensibly top-level armed forces agency, the High Command of
the Armed Forces (Alto-Comando das Forcas Armadas), was established by law
in the 1960s to provide "assistance to the President on decisions relative
to military policy and the coordination of subjects pertinent to the Armed
Forces." A small group designed to act like a board of directors,
theoretically it would not duplicate the functions of EMFA, which served as
a headquarters staff for the three services. The members were the three
service ministers, the chief of staff of the armed forces, and the three
service chiefs. As far as is known, the High Command has not held regular
meetings, and only a few of its essions have been recorded. One of the more
important meetings concerned the presidential succession after Costa e Silva
was incapacitated. The choice of a successor was discussed by officers down
to and including colonels (navy captains), who were allowed to indicate their
preferences to their superiors. The results of this very informal polling were
transmitted to the High Command, which sat as an electoral college in choosing
General Medici, commander of the Third Army, to be president.

     In addition to the agencies and individuals already named, the chief of
the Military Household is an important adviser to the president in the
national security area. The Military Household provides liaison between the
office of the president and EMFA as well as with the armed forces ministries
and some other executive agencies. It is also responsible for the personal
security of the president and the presidential palace. Brigadier General
Danilo Venturini, chief of the Military Household under Figueiredo and also
general secretary of the CSN, gave up the first position but retained the
second in a change of cabinet appointments in late 1982. Brigadier General
Rubem Carlos Ludwig, who had been minister of education and culture, took
over the Military Household but not the CSN.

     An agency established by the Castello Branco government in 1964, the
SNI, quickly gained influence in national security affairs. A federal agency
staffed by military personnel and designed to combine many of the functions
of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence
Agency, the SNI was soon recognized as a locus of power within the military
regime. Its first chief, General Golbery, was already well known as the
author of books on geopolitics and as a strong advocate of the ESG ideology
(see Training, this ch.). The SNI was established as a kind of clearinghouse
for domestic and foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and the scope
of its activities spread into all facets of national security. By the end of
the 1960s SNI agents were present in every governmental ministry to ensure
that all policy makers stayed abreast of national security requirements.

     In the early 1970s the strength of the agent-staff of the SNI was
estimated at about 200 military officers who were supported by an unknown
number of administrative and technical personnel. Such an estimate was not
available for the early 1980s, but the organization remained strong and
influential. The chief of the SNI, General Octavio Aguiar de Medeiros in 1982,
was a member of the cabinet and of the CSN. Two of the five military
presidents-Medici and Figueiredo-earlier held the SNI post. The intelligence
agencies of the three armed forces, as well as the federal and state police
forces, had information-gathering intelligence units that fed the central
files of the SNI, ensuring that dossiers existed on any Brazilian of interest
to the federal authorities. Stepan in Authoritarian Brazil (1973), referring
to the system and criticizing its reputation, said, "The result has been the
creation of a vast information-gathering network, using both the most modern
techniques of data processing and retrieval and the most medieval methods of
'data extraction,' that penetrates all private institutions and levels of
government."

Army

     The army, for a variety of reasons including its size, deployment, and
historical development, is the most influential of the three armed forces.
Senior army generals have occupied the presidency since 1964, and of the
many military officers who have held cabinet posts during that time, most
have been army generals and colonels rather than navy or air force officers.
In late 1982, in addition to the three service ministries, active or retired
officers headed the ministries of communications, interior, mines and energy,
and the newly created Special Ministry for Land-Related Issues, as well as
the Military Household and the SNI. General Pires, who at one time had
headed the federal police forces, had been appointed minister of army by
President-elect Figueiredo and has held the office since the latter was
inaugurated on March 15, 1979. Cabinet ministers served indefinite terms at
the pleasure of the chief of state.

     The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS),
in The Military Balance, 1982-1983, listed army strength at 182, 750 (the
same as the previous year) out of a total armed forces strength of 272,850.
The army, therefore, accounted for about 67 percent of the total. The IISS
also estimated that 132,000 conscripts served in the 1982 Brazilian army,
a high percentage considering the short conscript tour (usually nine to 10
months) and the need for literate and skilled young men to handle modern
weapons. In effect, the army has served as a training ground for a large
reserve force. Its highly professional officer corps and NCO corps would
serve as a nucleus around which the trained reserve would be mobilized if
required.

     The army was deployed territorially in four numbered field armies-First,
Second, Third, and Fourth-and two independent commands, the Amazon
Military Command and the Brasilia Military Command. Under these six major
field commands, the country was divided into 11 sequentially numbered
military regions. The First Army, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro,
historically has had the best troop units and the most modern equipment
because of the importance of Rio to the overall economics, politics, and
culture of the country, even after the move of the capital to Brasilia in
1960. The Vila Militar, the city's garrison or military community, continued
to be regarded as one of the most important centers of military influence in
the entire country, and command of the First Army has always been a coveted
assignment because of the influence wielded by the incumbent. In 1982 the
First Army was commanded by General Heitor de Almeida. The two military
subdivisions of the First Army were the 1st Military Region, comprising the
states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, and the 4th Military Region,
the borders of which were the same as those of Minas Gerais.

     Next in importance among the four field armies was the Third Army,
under the command in 1982 of General Tulio Chagas Nogueira, whose headquarters
was located in Porto Alegre. The Third Army's importance derived from its
historically strategic location in the extreme south of the country. It
included the 3rd Military Region, consisting of Rio Grande do Sul, and the
5th Military Region, comprising Santa Catarina and Parana. Those three
states border Uruguay and Paraguay and were the scenes of hard-fought wars in
the nineteenth century. The whole area has been considered of strategic
importance since then, and the Third Army has been kept strong in troops and
equipment.

     Having noted the importance of the two armies that control the area
along the southern Atlantic coast, it must be said that the Second and Fourth
armies were also important organizations, although they were not maintained
at the same level as the more prestigious First and Third. All armies were
commanded by four-star generals, and all of those commanding generals were
members of the Army High Command along with the minister, the chief of staff,
and about four other four-star generals who occupied high-level staff
positions. The Second Army, headquartered in Sao Paulo and commanded by
General Sergio de Ary Pires in 1982, included the 2d Military Region,
encompassing the state of Sao Paulo, and the 9th Military Region, comprising
the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The Fourth Army covered
Brazil's northeastern bulge, the area that was so important to the World War
II Allies for patrol of the South Atlantic and easy access to Africa. Army
headquarters was located at Recife; the 6th Military Region included Bahia
and Sergipe, and the 7th Military Region included Alagoas, Pernambuco,
Paraiba, and Rio Grande do Norte. The commander of the Fourth Army in 1982
was General Enio Gouveia dos Santos.

     The Amazon Military Command was larger by far than any of the field
armies, but because it was located in the sparsely settled backcountry, it
did not rank in importance with the other field commands. It contained the
8th Military Region, which was made up of the states of Rondonia, Acre,
Amazonas, and Para, and the territories of Roraima and Amapa; and the 10th
Military Region, containing Maranhao, Piaui, and Ceara. Headquarters of the
Amazon Military Command was located in Manaus. The remaining field command
was the Brasilia Military Command, headquartered in the capital. This command
contained the 11th Military Region, which consisted of the state of Goias
and the Federal District.

     Subordinate to the armies, independent commands, and military regions
were the major tactical units that in 1982 consisted of eight divisions, each
containing four armored, mechanized, or motorized infantry brigades, or some
combination of such. In addition to the divisions there were also three
independent infantry brigades, two parachute brigades, and five light jungle
units ranging in size from battalion to brigade. The divisions and separate
brigades contained organic combat support and service support units. There
were also support units-engineer, communications, and the like-at army level.

Navy

     The navy is the senior service, tracing its heritage to the tiny
Portuguese ships and crews that protected the earliest coastal colonies
form seaborne marauders. The minister in 1982, Admiral Fonseca, assumed
office on March 15, 1979, when President Figueiredo was inaugurated. The
minister and the naval chief of staff (Admiral Jose Gerardo Albano de
Aratanha in 1982) were both ex officio members of the CSN and the High
Command.

     Naval operations were directed from the Ministry of Navy at Brasilia
through six naval districts and one fleet command. The First Naval District
was located at the country's main naval base at Rio de Janeiro. Other naval
district headquarters locations were as follows: Second, Salvador; Third,
Recife; Fourth; Belem; Fifth, Florianopolis; and Sixth, Sao Paulo. In
addition to the cities where the district headquarters were located, other
important naval bases were Ladario near Corumba on the Rio Paraguai, and Sao
Pedro da Aldeia Naval Air Station at Rio de Janeiro.

     Total naval strength in 1982 was estimated to be slightly over 47,000,
including the naval air arm and the Marine Corps (Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais).
Only about 2,000 conscripts served in the navy. The flagship of the oceangoing
navy was the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais (the ex-British H.M.S. Vengeance),
which has been in service since 1945. Purchased from Britain in 1956, the
Minas Gerais was reconstructed in the Netherlands in 1960 and extensively
refitted in Brazil in the late 1970s, but in the view of many Brazilian and
foreign observers, it was obsolescent and should be retired by the end of the
1980s if it could be replaced. Because of interservice rivalry between the
navy and the air force, only the latter was allowed to operate fixed-wing
aircraft. The complement of aircraft carried by the Minas Gerais included six
Grumman S-2A antisubmarine planes in addition to several Sikorsky SH-3D Sea
King helicopters and Aerospatiale HB-350 Esquilo helicopters. The S-2A
aircraft were flown by air force pilots, and the helicopters, by navy pilots.
In late 1982 the crew with full air complement consisted of about 1,300
officers and men. The interservice imperatives of who is allowed to fly what
kind of aircraft cause what some critics called serious command and control
problems. Nevertheless, the anomaly has existed since 1965 when Castello
Branco decreed the division of responsibilities in order to settle the
navy-air force dispute.

     The pride of the surface fleet in the early 1980s focused on the six
Niteroi-class frigates that entered service in the late 1970s. Named Niteroi,
Defensora, Constituicao, Liberal, Independencia, and Uniao, the frigates
resulted from a contract between the Brazilian navy and Vosper-Thornycroft of
Britain that called for the building of four of the ships in Britain and two
in the Rio de Janeiro Navy Yard. A seventh frigate of similar design but
modified to become a training ship was under construction in Rio in 1982.
The first four frigates are specifically designed for antisubmarine warfare
(ASW) as opposed to the other two, which are general-purpose vessels. Both
configurations carried two Seacat surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers, two
single 40mm guns, one twin 375mm ASW rocket launcher, two triple torpedo
mounts, and one Westland WG-13 Lynx helicopter. In addition, the ASW ships had
one single 4.5-inch gun and a single Ikara ASW missile launcher; the
general-purpose version had two 4.5-inch guns and two twin Exocet antiship
missile launchers. The complement was the same on both versions-21 officers
and 179 men.

     The destroyer fleet consisted in 1982 of 12 ex-United States ships, all
of which had been commissioned during World War II. The Marcilio Dias and the
Mariz e Barros were both Gearing Fram I class, armed with four 127mm guns,
one eight-tube ASROC (antisubmarine rocket), and one Wasp helicopter. Each
carried 274 officers and men. The Maranhao, Parana, Pernambuco, Piaui, and
Santa Catarina were Fletcher class, carrying a complement of 260 and armed
with four or five 127mm guns, two quad 40mm and one twin 40mm antiaircraft
guns, and varying combinations of torpedo tubes and depth charge racks. The
Alagoas, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe were
Sumner Fram II class, each carrying six 127mm guns, one Wasp helicopter, two
triple torpedo tubes, and two Hedgehogs. Mato Grosso did not carry a Wasp
but did have depth charges and a Seacat SAM system.

     The submarine inventory in 1982 included three of 1970s vintage and five
veterans of World War II. The three newer boats were British Oberon class that
were built for Brazil by Vickers-Barrow in Britain. Named Humaita, Riachuelo,
and Toneleros, they each carried eight torpedo tubes and a crew of 68 men and
were placed in service in the mid-1970s. The five older submarines were ex-
United States Guppy II- and Guppy III-class boats commissioned in the 1940s,
each carrying 10 torpedo tubes. The remainder of the fleet consisted of a
large number and wide variety of patrol vessels, mine warfare ships, landing
craft, and support vessels of many kinds.

     Brazil has become a major shipbuilding nation-both naval and merchant
ships-and takes great pride in the home-built vessels that have entered
service in recent years. A large number of river and coastal patrol craft have
been constructed in Brazilian yards, and the modernization program for the
1980s called for the local production of many new ships, including patrol
craft, corvettes, possibly a submarine, and-before the end of the decade-a
start on the construction of a new aircraft carrier. Some of the design and
production will be purely Brazilian, and other projects will be jointly
undertaken with foreign companies operating in Brazilian shipyards. News
reports in the summer of 1982 stated that two new submarines had been ordered
built in Kiel and that the contract was awaiting approval by the government of
the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). Unconfirmed reports claimed
that the deal included agreement for a third boat to be built in a Brazilian
yard.

Air Force

     The strength of the Brazilian Air Force (Forca Aerea Brasileira-FAB)
of almost 43,000 officers and men and about 600 aircraft in 1982 made it the
largest air force in Latin America. The minister of aeronautics, in addition
to commanding the air force, had the added responsibility of controlling all
civil air activities. The line of military command extended from the minister
through his chief of staff down to the commanders of five major commands: Air
Defense, Tactical, Maritime, Transport, and Training. There were also six
territorial air commands that covered the entire country. Numbered from one to
six, the headquarters of the regional air commands were located at Belem,
Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Brasilia, respectively.

     The Air Defense Command consisted of a one-squadron wing, the 1st Air
Defense Wing (1 degree Ala de Defesa Aerea, known as 1 degree ALADA), which
operated 16 Mirage III aircraft, 12 interceptors, and four trainers. In early
1981 Mattos announced that construction of the country's first SAM missile
base was to begin near Florianopolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina on
the southern coast. This was to be the first in a planned series of such bases
that would become part of the Air Defense Command. Whether or not the project
ever started and what kind of missile was to be emplaced had not been made
public as of late 1982. Meanwhile, however, a French company, Thompson CSF,
had installed communications systems, computers, and radars in the
Brasilia-Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo triangle that will be part of the overall
air defense system. Army-operated Roland mobile SAM launchers were deployed in
the same general area.

     The Tactical Command (Comando Aerotatico) comprised three groups of
fighter aircraft equipped with a total of 32 Northrop F-5E fighters and
four F-5B trainers. There were also six to eight counterinsurgency and
reconnaissance squadrons equipped with 139 AT-26 Xavante strike-trainers
(including 11 RT-26 reconnaissance version).

     The Maritime, or Coastal, Command (Comando Costeiro) operated the
fixed-wing aircraft aboard the carrier Minas Gerais in addition to various
land-based squadrons engaged in antisubmarine patrols and search-and-rescue
activities. Aircraft used included the EMB-111, the maritime patrol and
reconnaissance version of the Bandeirante; the Lockheed RC-130E Hercules;
and the Grumman Albatross, production of which began in 1949. The command
also had Bell 47G and SA-330 Puma helicopters. The major bases of the
Maritime Command were located in Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Sul; Florianopolis,
Santa Catarina; Salvador, Bahia; and Recife.

     In late 1982 the Air Transport Group had various groups for general
transport missions. Aircraft included two KC-130 Hercules for air-to-air
refueling in addition to several other C-130s and Bandeirantes for routine
transport. The Troop Transport Group (Grupo de Transporte de Tropas) at Campo
dos Afoncas supported the army's paratroop units using 21 DeHaviland Buffalos,
some of which operated as troop carriers at Camp Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul,
and Manaus, Amazonas. The Special Transport Group (Grupo de Transporte
Especial) was equipped with a wide variety of aircraft for VIP transport and
special missions. The Training Command also had a variety of aircraft,
including Brazilian as well as foreign-made planes (see Training, this ch.).

Training

     It has frequently been written that Brazil's annual conscript class
contains large numbers of illiterates who, during their short conscript tour,
are taught reading and writing in addition to various basic technical skills.
In fact, the percentage of illiterate conscripts is usually quite small
because the officers selecting those who will be drafted are well aware that
the army's capability to fulfill its missions would be seriously hampered if
it were required to carry on mass literacy training every year. The army,
however, does recognize the importance of the public service it provides by
teaching large numbers of conscripts basic skills that can be valuable to the
overall economy when the young men return to civilian life. The relatively
small number of illiterates who are drafted do learn to read and write, but
for most conscripts the tour is devoted to basic military training, weapons
familiarization, equipment handling and maintenance, and small-unit training.
The conscript system is primarily a means of providing fundamental military
training annually to a sizeable group of young men who then return to civilian
life and are retained on the reserve rolls until age 45.

     For the regular enlisted personnel of the three services, training was a
constant in their military careers. Much of their time was devoted either to
retraining others or to being trained themselves in various military
institutions. Like officers, NCOs who aspired to higher ranks were expected to
complete advanced training and educational courses. Technical courses given by
army branches, for example, were open to all who qualified; competition was
strong for the courses that were prerequisites to advancement, and an added
incentive was the importance placed on such technical training by employers
after the serviceman had been discharged. The navy and air force also had a
variety of educational institutions to train the technicians who were
essential for the operation of modern weapons and equipment.

     An example of the importance placed on education by the military was the
School for Sergeants of the Armed Forces (Escola de Sargentos das Armas),
which acquired a reputation for excellence in the post-World War II period
when the drive for professionalization of the military was particularly
strong. In a manner similar to that used by officer candiate schools, the
year-long course of instruction was opened to civilian applicants, as well as
to lower ranking enlisted personnel, who aspired to become career NCOs.
Although qualifications for admission were high and the entrance examination
was difficult, competition for admission always remained strong. The
curriculum has been weighted toward technical subjects to meet the demands of
advancing technology in the services. One of the side effects of
professionalization of the NCO corps came after the military takeover of the
government when NCOs demanded and received the rights to vote and to run for
office. The Constitution of 1967 includes those rights for NCOs whereas
previous constitutions had granted them only to officers.

     The Brazilians considered the educational systems developed for their
armed forces, particularly in the army, to be as good as any and better than
most in the world. Many officers on active duty in 1982 entered the system at
the secondary level, beginning at one of the military preparatory schools that
were supervised and directed by the armed forces. These officers, therefore,
began their military careers at about age 12 or 13. Qualified graduates of
these schools and other secondary schools were permitted to take the written
examination that determined who would be admitted to the Military Academy of
the Black Needles (Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras). The odd name derives
from nearby mountains, but the school is usually referred to simply as the
Military Academy or frequently by the acronym AMAN. Those who survive the
competition for admission enroll as cadets to face a difficult four-year
course leading to an army commission. Since 1964 the curriculum has stressed
the national security doctrine, but more emphasis has also been placed on
social science courses in addition to the engineering and science subjects
that have always been given priority. Midway through the course, cadets
indicate the branch to which they desire assignment (infantry, artillery,
armor, engineers, etc.), and during the last two years at the academy they
receive some specialized branch training. After commissioning, young officers
usually attend a branch school.

     For the officer who aspires to high rank in the army, successful
completion of each step in the educational system is essential. For those
who would be generals, finishing each academic step in the highest percentile
is required; high standing in graduating classes is among the most important
criteria for promotion. After commissioning, the system begins for
company-grade officers with attendance at the Officers' Postgraduate School
(Escola Aperfeicomento de Oficias-EsAO), which offers a one-year course that
is required for promotion to field grade. Routinely during a career, officers
maintain contact with branch schools through correspondence or refresher
courses.

     The prize achievement for an army officer climbing the rungs of the
education system, however, is admittance to the Army Command and General
Staff School (Escola de Comando e Estado Maior do Exercito-ECEME). The
stiff entrance examination regularly weeds out about 75 percent of the
field-grade applicants, and without successful completion of the three-year
course, promotion to general officer rank is unheard of. Appointment to
faculty positions at military schools (including ECEME) and attainment of the
highly coveted general staff badge also require completion of the command and
general staff course.

     In the navy an officer's education begins at the Naval School (Escola
Naval) in Rio de Janeiro, where midshipmen receive a four-year academic course
equivalent to that given to cadets at the Military Academy. Graduation is
followed by a year of shipboard training, and naval officers also attend a
network of specialist schools similar to the branch schools of the army. In
addition, naval officers attend courses at the Naval Research Institute and
the Naval War College. As its name implies, the research institute is
concerned with naval science and technology and research in advanced concepts.
The war college, the navy's highest educational institution, offers a
nine-month curriculum for qualified officers, usually those who have reached
the rank of commander.

     The education of air force officers follows two different paths,
depending on whether a cadet will become a flying officer or a technical
officer. The Air Force Academy at Pirassununga, Sao Paulo, is primarily a
flight training school to which students are admitted after completion of the
Air Cadets' Preparatory school in Barbacena, Minas Gerais. Technical officers
are trained at the Sao Jose dos Campos Aerospace Technical Center, Sao Paulo.
Before attaining field grade, all officers attend the Officers' Advanced
Training School at Sao Paulo, for courses in command, leadership, and
administration. The next step in the educational progression of the air force
officer is the Air Force Command and General Staff School, but admission
requirements and the entrance examination eliminate many applicants. From
among its graduates come the relatively small number of officers who will be
promoted to general officer rank.

     Several Brazilian officers are sent abroad annually to military schools
in various countries, including the United States. Many Brazilian officers
have attended United States basic and advanced service schools, and many
senior officers have attended the command and staff schools as well as the
service war colleges, the National War College, and the Inter-American Defense
College. During the period of strained relations between Brazil and the United
States from 1977 through 1980, Brazilian students were rare on United States
military campuses, but in 1981 they began returning to the United States for
various kinds of training.

     The top of the educational ladder for armed forces officers in Brazil was
the Superior War College (Escola Superior de Guerra-ESG), located in Rio de
Janeiro. Students were selected from among colonels and generals or navy
captains and admirals, as well as from among civilians who had attained high
government status or prominence in varied fields, such as business and
industry, education, medicine, economics, and even religion. Since the early
1970s a few civilian women have also gained admittance to the ESG.

     The ESG academic year was divided into segments of varying length during
which lectures and seminars covered national security doctrine as it pertained
to all aspects of Brazilian life. Several weeks of discussions on basic
doctrine were followed by a longer period devoted to national and
international affairs as they affected security and development. Lecturers
included senior military officers, cabinet ministers, key government
officials, academic specialists , and, occasionally, foreign diplomats.
Subject matter concerned all those areas that have a bearing on the
government, politics, economics, and society of the world power that the
military hierarchy expects Brazil to become in the remaining years of the
twentieth century.

     The idea for the establishment of the ESG grew out of the close
association of Brazilian and United States army officers during World War II
and the experience of the FEB (see Military Traditions, this ch.). After the
war several high-ranking FEB veterans, dissatisfied with their own staff
operations and particularly with joint service staffs, requested that a United
States mission be sent to Brazil to assist in the establishment of a war
college. A mission arrived in 1948, helped with the founding of ESG in 1949,
and remained in an advisory capacity until 1960. The chief of the United
States mission enjoyed faculty status at the ESG.

     According to Stepan in The Military in Politics, General Oswaldo Cordeiro
de Farias, who was charged with planning for the war college in 1948, wanted
the school to have "the functions of the U.S. Industrial College of the Armed
Forces and the National War College" and further advocated that "emphasis on
internal aspects of development and security be greater than in the U.S.
National War College." The other major distinction that the Brazilians wanted
to make was that there be much greater civilian participation in the ESG than
was true of the American school. Stepan quotes a decree of December 1963, just
four months before the military coup, stating the mission of the ESG as
preparing "civilians and military to perform executive and advisory functions
especially in those organs responsible for the formulation, development,
planning, and execution of the politics of national security." In the
curriculum of ESG, development and security were inseparably linked. The ESG
philosophy, as taught to the highest level military and civilian leaders
during the school's more than three decades, has had an incalculable effect
on the country's five military governments since 1964.

     The influence of the ESG on its alumni has been perpetuated by the
Association of Graduates (Associacao dos Diplomados da Escola Superior de
Guerra-ADESG), which has maintained contact with graduates and has kept them
informed of ESG policies and events. The ADESG has been a powerful force in
the military governments, always keeping the ideology of the school foremost
in the minds of the many graduates who have attained positions of power.
Under the direction of powerful luminaries, such as Golbery, who served as
chief of intelligence under Castello Branco and chief of the Civilian
Household under both Geisel and Figueiredo, the philosophy of the school was
incorporated into the curricula of all service schools, including the army's
influential ECEME. A dichotomy has long existed in the armed forces officer
corps concerning, albeit an oversimplification, the emphasis that should be
given to political liberalization vis-a-vis that given to security. The ESG
people, known as the Sorbonne group, stressing the crucial need for continuing
general development of the society along with its security, have been opposed
by the hard-line (linha dura) adherents who have championed security as the
country's foremost need (see The Military in Power, ch. 1).

Uniforms, Ranks, and Insignia

     In 1982 the three armed forces used several different uniforms, including
full dress, dress, service, and fatigue. The army service uniform was green;
the navy, dark blue; and the air force, a lighter blue. The senior
commissioned rank in the army was marshal (marechal); in the navy, admiral
(almirante); and in the air force, air marshal (marechal-do-ar). Officer rank
insignia were worn on shoulder boards by army and air force officers and on
the sleeve cuffs by navy officers. Each service had 10 officer grades,
excluding officer candidates. Army officer grades from second lieutenant to
colonel equated directly with counterparts in the United States Army. A
Brazilian brigadier general (general de brigada) wore two stars, and the next
higher rank, known as division general, wore three. There was no rank
corresponding to the United States lieutenant general. The next higher rank,
designated by four stars, was the army general (general de exercito), and the
marshal wore five stars, but that rank was rarely attained on active duty. Air
force ranks had the same designations through colonel, and there was also no
rank corresponding to lieutenant general. The air force general officer ranks
were brigadier, major brigadier, lieutenant brigadier, and air marshal. Again,
the five-star rank was rarely seen. Navy ranks corresponded directly to the
United States Navy counterparts except that there was no rank of commodore.
The flag ranks were rear admiral, vice admiral, squadron admiral, and admiral
(see fig. 10).