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Portuguese army

Portuguese Army
Exército Português
Portuguese Army Heraldry.gif
Portuguese Army Coat of Arms
Active 25 July 1139 – present
(877 years, 6 months)
Country  Portugal
Type Army
Role Land force
Size 16,111 military
1,897 civilians
Part of Portuguese Armed Forces
Patron Afonso I of Portugal (civil)
Saint George (religious)
Motto(s) Em perigos e guerras esforçados
In dangers and wars strengthened
Engagements Reconquista
1383–1385 Crisis
War of the Castilian Succession
Persia–Portugal war
Ethiopian-Adal War
Dutch–Portuguese War
Turkish-Portuguese Wars
War of the Portuguese Succession
Malayan-Portuguese War
Portuguese Restoration War
War of the Spanish Succession
Seven Years' War
French Revolutionary Wars
War of the Oranges
Peninsular War
Luso-Brazilian invasion
Brazilian War of Independence
Liberal Wars
First Carlist War
World War I
Portuguese-Indian War (1961)
Portuguese Colonial War
EUFOR
Afghanistan War
Peacekeaping Missions
-Angola
-Bosnia
-Croatia
-Macedonia
-Kosovo
-Western Sahara
-East Timor
-Georgia
-Lebanon
Commanders
Army Chief of Staff General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro [2]
Notable
commanders
Afonso I of Portugal
Nuno Álvares Pereira
John I of Portugal
Afonso de Albuquerque
Salvador Correia de Sá
Matias de Albuquerque
Marquis of Minas
Joaquim Mouzinho de Albuquerque
Francisco da Costa Gomes
António de Spínola

The Portuguese Army (Portuguese: Exército Português) is the land component of the Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. It is one of the oldest armies in the world, with its origins going back to the 12th century.

The Portuguese Army is commanded by the Chief of Staff of the Army (CEME), a subordinate of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces for the operational matters and a direct subordinate of the Ministry of National Defense for all other matters. The CEME is the only officer in the Army with the rank of General (Four-star rank).

Presently, the Portuguese Army is an entirely professional force made of career personnel (officers and NCOs) and of volunteer personnel (officers, NCOs and enlisted ranks). Until the early 1990s, conscripts constituted the bulk of the Army personnel, with a cadre of career officers and NCOs responsible for their training. Conscription was however gradually reduced since the middle 1990s, until being finally formally abolished in 2004.

As 2014, the Portuguese Army employed 5,667 career personnel and 10,444 volunteers, this representing a total of 16,111 military personnel. Of the total military personnel, 2,669 were officers, 3,917 were NCOs and 9,595 were other ranks. Further, the Army also included 1,897 civilian employees.

The national deployed forces (forças nacionais destacadas or FND) are units or teams deployed by the Portuguese Armed Forces in foreign missions, mostly in the scope of NATO, the United Nations or the European Union. Currently, the Portuguese Army maintains forces or elements deployed in the following international missions:


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