THE CHIEF OF THE ARMY STAFF VISITS THE 94TH SUPPORT DIVER COURSE

Army General Fulgencio Coll Bucher, Chief of the Army Staff, has carried out, today Monday 18th, his first institutional visit to the Support Diver Course for troop whose sea phase is being undertaken at Cala Montjoi (Girona).

On his arrival the Chief of the Army Staff was received by the commander of the Engineer Command, General Álvaro Michael Sacristán and Colonel Manuel Godoy Malvar, Commander of the 12th Pontoneer and Engineering Specialities Regiment, based in Zaragoza. The course director, Major Francisco Molina, explained to the Chief of the Army Staff the details of this 94th course, which is imparted to 25 corporals and privates from the 12th Pontoneer and Engineering Specialities Regiment along with 2 others from the Military Disaster Relief Unit.

Then General Coll was transferred by boat to the site called “Falconera Point”, where instructors and students participating in the course performed a dive to demonstrate the knowledge that they had acquired.  The day concluded with a visit to the unit’s medical support hyperbaric chamber.

The Support Diver Course provides Engineer soldiers with tactical, technical and physical preparation to fulfil support missions to Officers and Non-commissioned Officers in diving operations.  It qualifies students to use autonomous diving gear to a maximum depth of 50 metres with air and with closed circuit oxygen to a maximum depth of 8 metres.  The course lasts 60 days and it is scheduled to conclude at the end of October.

In 2001 the 12th Pontoneer and Engineering Specialities Regiment took charge of Army diver training that had been undertaken until that time by the Engineer Academy’s Amphibious Activities Section.