Difficult letter from a Falklands hero to Defense Minister Oscar Aguad: "Everything seems to be worthwhile when it comes to humiliating the armed forces"

He took the letter personally to the Ministry of Defense. He left him at the table of entrances and exits, on the tenth floor of the building at Azopardo 250. Colonel (D) José Martinianto Duarte, Falklands hero, took care of each of the words that he chose to write the very hard letter that he sent to her today. Oscar Aguad, holder of the area.

The possibility of the military being removed from the IOSFA leadership, the social work of the serving personnel and the retirees of the armed forces, has generated great malaise within the military structure.

"I wonder why the Ministry of Defense is doing this at this time, the causes could be different: Incompetence, ignorance, politics? I can not find an answer, "wrote the veteran, who fought in Port Howard.

"For decades, the Ministry of Defense has ceased to be a transcendent domain of public policies of different governments. it seems to be quite valid when humiliating the armed forces", followed with hardness.

The tension was rising when last week the listener of IOSFA, Pedro Barrios – appointed by Aguad – addressed to the Minister a note in which he affirmed that the management of social work "requires specific skills generally unrelated to military activity or security". Finally, he asked his superior "adopt the necessary measures to ensure that IOSFA is no longer considered a military destination".

IOSFA has more than 640 thousand affiliates, was born in 2013 with the unification of the IOSE (Army), the DIBA (Navy) and the DIOSFA (Air Army) and is the third ranking of the social works of the country. The prevailing discomfort in the Forces has been established within the army, which has expressed concern for the entry of political cadres into the layers of the social work leadership and has considered Barrios' request as "discrimination".

The retired general José Figueroa, vocal director of IOSFA, had already rejected the decision of Barrios and, in a letter, had expressed his anger over a resolution "personal and not consulted" on a scale theme.

Colonel José Duarte, who joined the controversy sparked within the ministry, is Heroes, Bachelor in Strategy and Organization, command, parachutist and instructor of mountaineering, parachute and commandos, and enjoys a high prestige within the army and the armed forces: "Gather the soldier fighter conditions with exceptional skills and value", they defined their comrades in front of Infobae.

During the armed conflict of 1982, he led the 1st section of the Commando Company 601 and, during the same period, commanded successful operations behind enemy lines and faced the S.A.S. – the most famous special forces of the British Army and one of the most prestigious of the world – victorious.

In his letter to Minister Aguad, the soldier decorated for his performance in the war ensured that, now that the armed forces "They have practically been stripped of all consideration and, apparently, they have no other subject of derision, they take it with our social work, which is the same with our families."

"It's easy, I admit, the military do not have a union, we do not stop and we do not mobilize and the politicians who should defend us the salary and the health, are simple amateurs who do not know the particular problematic of the military questionhe added without hiding his discomfort.

The letter will surely provoke a reaction within the Force because of the great preaching of Duarte among the military. All underscored their history in the military and during the war and proudly remembered this battle at Howard, where Captain Escuadrón SAS, 19, died Gavin John Hamilton and the corporal was captured first Roy Fonseca, only English prisoner captured in land combat after 2 April.

His comrades remembered that the first lieutenant Duarte had buried the English captain in Puerto Howard, Gran Malvina, with military honors. "Hamilton was veiled and buried with the British flag on his body and a cordon of honor, which earned him to give the British soldiers a tribute to Duarte and his section once the hostilities ended," he said. they declared. Infobae.

In 2002, 20 years after the war, Colonel Duarte met in London Victoria's widow, Victoria Carter. She wanted to thank him for his humanity and kindness for pointing out that her husband had fallen into battle as a brave man. "This is not a murderer," said the British officer's wife in the presence of the British press, "it's a soldier who fought for his country".

The energetic letter to the minister thus bears the full weight of this story in the armed forces. In one of its paragraphs, without half-measures, the army wrote to Aguad that "the defense ministers of the last decades and their advisers, who come from the best of the public service and know nothing about the Defense and even the armed forces "were those who did social work" were turned into a very special institute. "

"Maybe you do not know, but the social work of the armed forces has peculiarities that make it very different from others, huge distances and territorial dispersion make health care costs for its members very high. because our country has units and detachments – including the national gendarmerie – from Tartagal to Ushuaia, from Puente del Inca to Buenos Aires, even in very inaccessible places, "he said.

He also pointed out that Barrios – "whose I do not know the usefulness in the matter" – tried to compare IOSFA and its operation with other social works, "Which explains the lack of knowledge about what the armed forces are and what they need".

Who was the deputy director of the Army Research and Development, regiment commander, command instructor and editor of several books, badured that the decision to remove the army from the leadership of ; IOSFA "shows a deep ignorance of the mission, the organization, the deployment and the activities of the whole, and the elements that make it up, as well as the difficulties that constantly go through ".

Here is the complete letter of Colonel Duarte, handed today to Minister Aguad:

Buenos Aires, February 18, 2019.
Defense Minister
Dr. Oscar Aguad

With regard to the offense committed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of IOSFA to all members of the armed institutions, in the person of Mr. José Luis Figueroa, I am pleased to 39, try to inform you through this, concepts that I do not know.

I wonder why the Department of Defense is doing this at the present time. The causes could be different in nature: incompetence, ignorance, politics? I can not find an answer For decades, the Ministry of Defense has ceased to be a transcendent area of ​​public policy for different governments. And everything seems to be valid when humiliating the armed forces.

Now, they have almost been stripped of all consideration and, apparently, they have no other subject of derision, they take it with our social work, which is the same with our families. It is easy, I admit. the army does not have a union, we do not stop and do not mobilize, and the politicians who should defend our pay and our health are only amateurs who ignore the particular problem of the military question .

You may not know it, but the social work of the armed forces has its peculiarities that make it very different from others. The huge distances and territorial dispersion make health care costs for its members very high, because our country has units and detachments – among them the National Gendarmerie – from Tartagal to Ushuaia, from Puente del Inca to Buenos Aires. even in very inaccessible places. That is why, in the logistics of the Forces' personnel, there is a military health service which, in fact and in practice, is not reserved for the exclusive use of active members, but is closely linked and converges daily with social work. The military doctor who takes a military health cap with a NCO in Rio Mayo is the same as one who badists his pregnant wife with the IOSFA hat.

The reality is that the defense ministers of the last decades and their advisers, who are at the very best of the public service, ignorant of defense and still less of the armed forces, are what make our work the social has become a very special institute.

Military Health is the first to help a family member affected (IOSFA) and in an emergency. You will tell me that social work will make the corresponding reimbursement, and I will say no, and unfortunately that often does not happen that way. For example, if a child were to be evacuated from the town of Río Mayo to the Comodoro Rivadavia military hospital for an emergency – I experienced this situation – the commander of the Mechanized Brigade IX will command a helicopter. of his dependence to make the transfer (600 kilometers, round trip), and he will do it without consulting the social work or wait for his authorization, because there is a life to save. That's the cost of defense in a country that is the eighth territory of the world. This is happening, Minister, because of the mbadive deployment and isolation of many units of the Forces, which means that our social work and military health are in a state of permanent emergency. It is the same when a natural disaster occurs: they first badociate with the available means, then they give novelty. All at your own risk.

It seems that what Dr. Pedro Barrios – I do not know the usefulness in this matter – thinks that he knows so well apply in the army, he ignores it in his case .
Trying to compare IOSFA and its operation to other social projects reveals the lack of knowledge about what the armed forces are and their needs. He is profoundly ignorant of the mission, the organization, the deployment and the activities of his group, the elements of which it is composed, as well as the difficulties that remain there permanently.

For the above, it is that I emphasize that the person who performs the duties of the board of directors of IOSFA must be a person trained not only in the management of health or the management of an organization. social work, but also to the understanding of the specific complexity of the armed forces. .

In case it is not possible to find someone who fulfills these conditions and you do not want to appoint a military officer to this position, please choose someone who, at least, wish your soldiers.

I greet you with careful consideration.

José Martiniano Duarte
Colonel VGM (R)
ID: 8,604,927