The Argentine National Gendarmerie (Spanish: Gendarmería Nacional Argentina, GNA) is the national gendarmerie force and corps of border guards of the Argentine Republic. As at 2011, It has a strength of 30,000[1]
Non-commissioned personnel of the gendarmerie are all volunteers and receive their training in the force's own comprehensive system of training institutions. Officers graduate after a three-year course at the National Gendarmerie Academy. Both officers and non-commissioned personnel have access to the specialist training establishments of the Army.
The gendarmerie was created in 1938 by the National Congress[2] and replaced the regiments of the Army which previously fulfilled the gendarmerie's missions. The gendarmerie was particularly tasked with providing security in isolated and sparsely populated frontier regions which had only been settled relatively recently. In many senses the gendarmerie may still be considered an adjunct of the Argentine Army.
Activities
The gendarmerie's mission and functions are concerned with both domestic security and national defense. According to Laws No. 23.554 and 24.059, the armed forces cannot intervene in internal civil conflicts, except in logistics’ and support roles, so the gendarmerie is subordinate to the Ministry of Security. It is defined as a civilian "security force of a military nature". It maintains a functional relationship with the minister of defense, as part of both the National Defense System and the Interior Security System.[2] It therefore maintains capabilities arising from the demands required by joint military planning with the armed forces.
The gendarmerie's main missions are:
Providing security for Argentina's borders
Providing security for places of national strategic importance (e.g. nuclear plants)
The gendarmerie is also used for other security missions, which include:[1]
Policing missions:
Assisting provincial police services in maintaining public security in rural areas
The ranks up to and including sergeant are classified as Subaltern Sub-Officers (Suboficiales Subalternos), and the remainder are classified as Superior Sub-Officers (Suboficiales Superiores). The sub-officer ranks are the same as Argentine army ranks, and wear the same insignia, but with a much thicker gold band for a Gendarmerie Principal Sub-Officer than is used in the Army.
The ranks up to and including Segundo Comandante are classified as Subaltern Officers (Oficiales Subalternos). Gendarmerie officers wear the same insignia as the equivalent Argentine Army rank. The National Director and his Deputy wear the insignia of an Argentine Lieutenant-General and Divisional General respectively, although they still have the rank of Commandant-General. (NB: Lieutenant-General is the highest Argentine Army rank.)
Unit structure
A Section (Spanish: pelotón) is a squad of several men.
A Group (Spanish: grupo) consists of several sections and is the basic operational unit of the Gendarmerie.
A Squadron (Spanish: escuadrón) consists of three groups.
A Grouping (Spanish: agrupación) consists of several squadrons. This may be thought of as roughly corresponding to the level of command of a battalion or regiment.
Above the groupings are the regional commands and the staff of the National Directorate.
^ abcMarechaussee, Royal Netherlands. "Argentinian National Gendarmerie". FIEP | International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Statues. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
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