The 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade wins 2nd Prize in Heavy Forces’ Best Practises

12th Armoured Brigade ‘Guadarrama’ Headquarters Battalion, with the operational procedure ‘NBC Reconnaissance WIFI Team’, has been the winner of the 2nd Prize Award for Heavy Forces Best Practices, according to the decision by the panel of judges presided over by the Heavy Forces commander, General Domingo Guerra, on 23rd November.  The award will be presented in March 2012, to coincide with the celebration of Heavy Forces Day.

The before mentioned procedure, according to the panel of judges, contributes to "improvement of the NBC reconnaissance procedure and the real time exploitation of the information obtained’. The need for the reconnaissance squad commander, the platoon commander and the captain commander of the of the NBC company with its control centre all to have sufficient information in the shortest possible time was the idea that inspired its authors.

These are Master Sergeant Miguel A. Arnaiz, Sergeant José L. Cabestrero and troop personnel belonging to the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade’s NBC-12 company.They are responsible for the design of the new NBC reconnaissance team that will allow having all the information in the exterior, in real time, simultaneously as it is undertaken by the operator inside the installation.  This would be available for the reconnaissance platoon commander and the NBC Control Centre, as well as for the team that relieves the operators. 

As a result, the information on detections, position of toxic substances, interior installation layout, NBC-4 reports, video and photographic images from reconnaissance undertaken and a sketch of the installation would be available to all NBC defence structure actors at the moment of undertaking reconnaissance.

The results are so satisfactory that they have been shown to the NBC Defence Military School, which is interested in studying their implementation in the rest of the NBC companies. Nonetheless, the system may be applied in other types of units as for example, those of Intelligence.

The aim of this award is the recognition of Heavy Forces personnel who, with their initiative and creativity, have contributed to implementing a practice that means a distinct improvement in their unit’s performance, just as the members of the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade have done this year.