'Sport is Indispensible to be a Good Serviceperson'

Army General Coll, as each year, has received today the Army sportspersons who have been outstanding due to their preparation and results in 2011, as well as a delegation of collaborators who have also stood out due to their efforts in sport promotion.

‘Sport is indispensible to be a good serviceperson,’ the Chief of the Army Staff has affirmed during the audience, which has taken place at Buenavista Palace (Madrid). Also attending the ceremony have been the Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ignacio Martín Villalaín; the chief of the Training and Doctrine Command, Lieutenant General Francisco Puentes Zamora; the chief of the Office of the Chief of the Army Staff, General Del Pozo; and the director of the Central Physical Education School and secretary general of the Central Committee on Physical Education and Sport,

Colonel Antonio Fragua, among others. The director of the Central Physical Education School, in his address, has highlighted the ‘will to win’ and the ‘service vocation’ of the eighteen military sportspersons present in the hall. According to the colonel, ‘these men and women are the tip of the iceberg of physical preparation; with their example and great desire for self-improvement at their posts they daily achieve being a reference to imitate’.

For this reason, General Coll could do no other but express gratitude and congratulations to them, as he assured them that they could consider themselves ‘authors of the Army’s success, continue setting an example and we, from here, will try to support you a little more’. Following the speeches, the Chief of the Army Staff greeted them one by one and toasted with them to their present and future sports successes.

The sportspersons shook his hand in this order: Sergeant Miguel Vaquero, Army Inspection General ( Base ‘Hoya Fría’ Garrison Support Unit), Private Irene Lorenzo (12th Armoured Brigade ‘Guadarrama’), Captain Miguel A. Rodríguez (Helicopter Training Centre), Staff Sergeant Esther Arias (64th Mountain Light Infantry Regiment ‘Galicia’), Captain Jonás Sánchez (General Military Academy),Staff Sergeant Mónica Sáez (22nd Signals Company), Private Yolanda Merino (31st Electronic Warfare Regiment), Private Lupicinio Díaz (49th Light Infantry Regiment ‘Tenerife’),First Lieutenant Miguel A. Aller (3rd Legion Regiment ‘Juan de Austria’), Corporal Javier S. García (1st Troop Training Centre), Private Raquel Naranjo (50th Light Infantry Regiment ‘Canarias’), Private Santiago Montis (18th Signals Company), Master Sergeant Ángel Pascua (8th Engineer Regiment),Master Sergeant Manuel Rodríguez (10th Mechanised Infantry Brigade ‘Guzmán el Bueno’ Headquarters Battalion), Sergeant Major Francisco J. González (73rd Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment), Private Marina Ruiz (12th Pontoneer and Engineering Specialities Regiment), Sergeant First Class (Base ‘Coronel Maté’ Garrison Support Unit), Sergeant First Class Sergio Pérez (12th Mechanised Signals Company). The delegation of collaborators was made up of Colonel l Herminio García (reserve, General Military Academy), Major Gonzalo Pisabarro (Field Artillery Command Headquarters), Sergeant Major Jesús García (Base ‘El Goloso’ Garrison Support Unit) and Master Sergeant Pablo Varas (Central Physical Education School).