Brazil's Centro de Instruçao de Guerra na Selva (CIGS – Jungle Warfare Instruction Center), announced on Monday that the Chinese military has requested a jungle combat training program for its armed forces.
According to a statement issued by Colonel Alcimar Marques de Araújo Martins of CGIS, instead of sending a group of its officers and sergeants to be trained in Brazil, as had been originally planned in July, the Chinese have requested that the CGIS send their representatives to China instead.
"They have now asked us to provide a number of instructors to assist them in developing their own jungle warfare training program in China," said the commander.
CGIS is based in Manaus and was set up in 1964 by a Brazilian army officer who had attended a similar course run by the United States Army in Panama.
Brazilian Marines take part in a military training in the Formosa Training Camp, in the state of Goias, north of Brasilia, Brazil, Oct. 29, 2014. File photo
© AP Photo / Eraldo Peres
The center's instruction is tailored to the tough conditions of the Brazilian rainforest, where it has trained almost 6,000 soldiers in jungle warfare throughout its distinguished 50 year history, around 500 of whom were members of special operations forces from around the world, including from France, the US and African countries such as Senegal and Angola.
Soldiers who are accepted into the demanding ten-week course find themselves among 100-120 combatants, and the courses for senior officers last eight weeks.
During the course, which runs three times a year, trainees learn the techniques of jungle warfare including hand-to hand combat, river assault and jungle hygiene procedures, as well as how to survive and navigate on long hikes through the forest, foraging and hunting for food.
