San Telmo (Sant Elm in Majorquin) is the little village where I used to live for the last 18 years until 2 month ago, and now that I leave for the first time something militarily revlevant is going to happen there:
Tomorrow veteran commandos, "Boinas Verdes", from all over Spain will meet here and hold a live war game as part of their reunion.
As you probably all know parts of the Spanish Forces are direct copies from the US set up during the Franco dictatorship, like the Marines and others, down to the exact same uniforms, gear, vehicles, training etc. The Spanish Special Forces, the "Boinas Verdes", are the direct copy of the US "Green Berets".
Actually there are three SF units that wear the green beret:
1. The GOE in their official name: Grupo Operaciones Especiales of the Army, not to be confused with the Elite National Police force GEO (the equivalent to SWAT)
2. The Navy variant UOE, now merged with UEBC to form the new unit UGNE, and
3. the EZAPAC of the Air Force
As this is a marine operation I suspect the veterans are of the 2nd unit (there are some combat divers present, beneath them the first and only woman that ever made this career in Spain)
The setup for the war game is top secret, but as in Spain nothing can be secret for a long time it has been filtered that it will consist of a recon inflitration preceding a NATO landing on San Telmos beach (apparently NATO has decided that this is the best spot to take back the island from the enemy).
Its a pity that due to other obligations I cannot attend, but if some photos or footoge come up after the event I will share them here.
Meanwhile enjoy a video slide show of pix from the "Boinas Verdes" of the UOE:
And one (better due to the music and being true vid) of the GOE - that includes historical footage from the 60´s African (the "forgotten") wars and modern stuff as well:
Rattler
