The 'San Marcial' Division reaches initial operational capacity in the"White Hell" exercise

The units of the new “San Marcial” Division, restructured since January 1st, have carried out the “White Hell” (“Infierno Blanco” by its Spanish name) exercise, between March 18th and 25th, with which they have reached initial operational capacity. They are the first maneuvers in which all the capabilities of the Mountain Troops Command (MTM – by its Spanish abbreviation), the Army Airmobile Forces, the Special Operations Command, the 6th Paratroopers Brigade “Almogávares” and the Information Operations Regiment have been integrated.

On this occasion, the MTM organized this specific exercise in the mountains and one of its units, the 66th Mountain Hunter Regiment “America” was in charge of directing it. Among the units that supported the deployment are Field Artillery Regiments No. 20, Transmissions No. 21 and Electronic Warfare No. 31.

One of the main challenges was the geographical leap between locations, since the planning was carried out in Pamplona, while the initial phase was in Agoncillo and the Sierra de Cameros (La Rioja), and the final in the Aragonese Pyrenees, specifically in Jaca (Huesca).

They also faced other challenges, such as maintaining the missions and training of each unit, organizing the Command and Control structure with different procedures and complying with security measures against COVID-19.

In the last phase, the head of the Division, General Juan Carlos González, visited the exercise control center in Jaca on March the 23rd. The following day, he attended the injection of one of the incidents in the Tena Valley, where a tactical subgroup of "America" and other small units, such as artillery, mortars or transmissions, participated. A close fire support action was carried out at this location by two Tigre and one Cougar attack helicopters that completed a casualty evacuation.

  

Final phase of the exercise in the Aragonese Pyrenees