HQ NRDC-ESP

HQ NRDC ESP

HQ NRDC ESP

HQ NRDC ESP

On 16 December.

 The promotion ceremony of US Army officer Curtiss Armstrong to Lieutenant Colonel –posted in the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC-ESP) Bétera (Valencia)- took place in the Salón del Trono of the Convento de Santo Domingo in Valencia, site of the Spanish High Readiness Land Forces Headquarters (CGTAD).

During the ceremony, attended by the main commanders and officers of the NRDC-ESP, including Lieutenant General Francisco Javier Varela Salas as Commander of CGTAD and NRDC-ESP, and chaired by Colonel Craig Manville -the senior officer of the US Army and Senior National Representative – and was in charge of reading a review of the main professional accomplishments of this officer and subsequently read the "order of promotion."

In keeping with US tradition the members of his own family - wife, two daughters and a son – were the ones to pin on his new rank on beret and shoulders.

In addition to Spain, eight other nations (Germany, the United States, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Turkey) are permanently present at this multinational headquarters, and in 2017 two other nations, Great Britain and Poland, to total eleven nations, will be present in the headquarters.

This ceremony shows once more the degree of integration of the military personnel of NATO nations into the Spanish headquarters, as well as respect for traditions in all armies, and in this case as an example of the importance of the promotion of an officer to a higher Rank.