Airmed Forces o the Dominican Republic

The **Airmed Forces o the Dominican Republic** (Spaingie: Fuerzas Armadas de la República Dominicana) is the combined naitional military o the Dominican Republic. It conseest o approximately 44,000 active duty personnel, approximately 60 percent o which are utilised mainly for non-military operations, includin security providers for govrenment-awned non-militar facilities, toll siccarity, forestry wirkers an ither state enterprises, an personal siccarity for ministers, congressmen, etc. The preses is the commander in chief for the militar an the **Meenistry o Defence** (Spaingie: Ministerio de Defensa de la República Dominicana) is the chief managing body o the airmed forces. The primary missions are tae defend the naiiton an protect the territorial integrity o the kintra. The Dominican Republic's militar is seicont in size tae Cuba's in the Caribbean.

The Airmy, twice as lairge as the ither services combined wi aboot 56,789 active duty personnel, conseest o sax infantry brigades, an air cavalry squadron and a combat service support brigade. The Air Force operates twa main bases, ane in soothren region near Santo Domingo an ane in the northren region o the kintra, the air force operates approximately 40 aircraft includin helicopters. The Navy maintains three ageing vessels which wur donatit frae the Unitit States, aroond 25 patrol crafts an interceptor boats an two helicopters.

There is a coonter-terrorist group formed bi members o the three branches. This group is heichly trained in coonter-terrorism missions. The airmed forces participate fully in coonter-illegal drug trade efforts, for this task, thare is a taskforce kent as DEPROSER 24/7 (DEfender, PROteger y SERvir). That awso are active in efforts tae control contraband an illegal immigration frae Haiti tae the Dominican Republic an frae the Dominican Republic tae the Unitit States (via illegal transportation o immigrants tae Puerto Rico).

## History
### War of Independence

Haiti unnee their president Jean-Pierre Boyer haed invadit an occupied  Dominican Republic frae 1822 tae 1844.  The military forces of the First Republic's army comprised about 4,000 soldiers organized into seven line infantry regiments, several loose battalions, 6 escudrones cavalry and 3 artillery brigades with 2/2 brigades; This army was supplemented with national civic guard militia composed of the provinces, the National Naval Armada, original name of the Navy today; It composed of 10 ships, seven owned and 3 taken in requición and armed by the government: the Cibao frigate with 20 cannons; the brigantine schooner San Jose, five guns; the schooner La Libertad, five guns; General schooner Santana 7 guns; the schooner La Merced, five guns; Separation schooner, 3 guns; the schooner February 27, five guns. The requisition taken: the schooner Maria Luisa, 3 guns; the schooner March 30, 3 guns; and the schooner Hope, 3 guns. 674 operated by a man. In addition to the aforementioned military corps expeditionary southern army recruited by Pedro and Ramon Santana in Hato Mayor and El Seibo, with a permit issued by the Central Governing Board with the rank of commander in chief of the army existed. These men were skilled in handling machete and spear. His deputy commander was Brigadier General Antonio Duvergé. The other expeditionary army was the Northern Borders created to defend these borders: its commander was Major General Francisco A. Salcedo.

The Dominican forces would reach levels of organization and efficiency of considerable notoriety. As an example of this, it would suffice to highlight the fact of the achievement and preservation of National Independence, with the Dominican victory over repeated Haitian military invasions in the 12-year period that followed the proclamation of Independence; In addition, 55 percent of the National Budget was allocated to it.

### 20th century

The events that led to the United States military intervention of 1916, brocht about the disappearance of any vestige of military structure in the Dominican Republic, setting the intervening forces a military government headed by Captain William Knapp, who make an interim police force called "Constabulary "equivalent to an" armed police force as a military unit "and he had the task of maintaining internal order and enforce the implementing provisions of the US government. This body, purely police function disappears in 1917, leading to the creation of a National Guard. As a result of this historic event of our recent past, the country inherited a hierarchical and organizational akin to the US Marine Corps structure, which served as a platform to the transformations that later gave rise to the armed forces we know today, made up of three components, terrestrial one, one naval and one air.

This land component, now called the National Army, inherited by both its organizational structure of the National Guard organized by the US occupation forces, which operated from April 7, 1917 until June 1921, when it becomes Dominican National Police by Executive Order No. 631 of Rear Admiral Thomas Snowden, who was at that time the military governor of Santo Domingo. After the US military occupation in 1924, Horacio Vásquez wins the presidential elections of that same year. Among his first decisions, decrees the change of the Dominican National Police in National Brigade, a situation that continues until 17 May 1928, when new turn changes the name of the Army by Law No. 928, but basically inheriting a structure Police, who obeyed schemes imposition of public order demanded by the country at that time and not those of an army in their typical roles.

Due to its characteristics and missions, organizational structure that demanded presence throughout the country, which was realized with the creation of posts and detachments in different parts of the country and the establishment in some provinces of company size units, many of which still Army retains today. Over the years and already existing National Police created by decree No. 1523 of March 2, 1936 of President Trujillo, many of these units, posts and detachments became part of it, perfectly adapted to its structure, since These were essentially created to play a policing role. So great was the influence that had the National Guard in Dominican society and very particularly in the rural population, which even today are many Dominicans who often referred to the Armed Forces and unique way to the Army as " The Guard ".

Meanwhile, the Navy has remained since its inception attached to the principles that gave rise, assuming only two name changes since its inception, but gradually evolving the transformation of what was a body created for military purposes, capable of landing and ships with weapons to face possible naval invasions, to be a component mainly responsible for enforcing the provisions on navigation, trade and fishing, as well as international treaties

The Dominican Air Force, meanwhile, emerges as an independent component in 1948, under the chairmanship of Generalissimo Rafael L. Trujillo Molina, with characteristics of innovation and modernism, which gave mobility, versatility and depth to the Armed Forces and the complement in the following years would become: a military capacity to project military power in the Caribbean environment. The situation of this air component has changed significantly after reaching its climax in the 50s, when it was one of the best air force equipped in the region, which was due to the strategic guidelines of a long-lived military dictatorship It made efforts to stay in power and he saw in this component one of its mainstays against any invasion or subversion against the dictatorship.

## References

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