The minister of Defence congratulates the Army and BRISAN on their work in missions abroad

The acting Minister of Defence, Pedro Morenés, has publicly congratulated the Army and the Medical Brigade (known as BRISAN) for the work they carry out in missions both at home and abroad. It was on 31 March during his visit to the facilities of BRISAN, the garrison “General Cavalcanti” (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid).

Morenés extended his compliments to the Army in general and to the aforementioned unit in particular through the Chief of the Army Staff, Army General Jaime Domínguez-Buj, and the commander of the Medical Brigade, General Manuel Guiote, who accompanied him in his visit.

The visit started off with a presentation by the commander of the unit on the general features of medical support in operations and on more concrete features related to BRISAN. Next the delegation moved to the medical training hall and, later, to a dynamic exhibition prepared by several medical teams. It included the NBC decontamination station, which is charged with the emergency treatment and decontamination of casualties of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack, and the basic activation unit of the field hospital, deployed anywhere in the world by virtue of its modular character, where up to 20,000 people can be offered primary and specialised surgery.

The minister also had the opportunity to meet the rapid intervention surgical team, able to carry out emergency surgery in life-or-death cases as well as damage control, and one of the medical logistic support units, which stocks up and maintains the resources of several medical units deployed in the theatre of operations.

Morenés then went to the training area, where he attended a demonstration in several recreated settings: an attack on a convoy, medical care in confined spaces, and immobilisation of patients. The area is equipped with cameras to record movements in confined spaces, so that instructors can study and correct the mistakes of the personnel being trained.

The minister and the Chief of the Army Staff during one of the demonstrations (Photo: J.M.Seguela/DECET)