This afternoon, Felipe VI made a lightning visit to Valencia to meet the military who are working in “an unprecedented emergency in Spain”, as the king declared to the troops of the armed forces during his visit to the ‘Jaime I’ base in Bétera, the Galicia ship and the pavilions of the Valencia Fair.
Before boarding the Super Puma helicopter that transported him from Bétera – where there are 600 soldiers – to the Navy ship – where he met 300 others – Don Felipe spoke to the media to emphasize that the troops working on the emergence of DANA “have much high morale and morale” and that for them “there is no greater gratitude than that.” “For them, the experience is absolutely extraordinary in terms of professional and personal, especially since for most of them, it touches them closely.” The king thanks them all your dedication and work “shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, human to human. But with one heart.
In this sense, Don Felipe valued “the response of citizens and the gratitude they show” towards the Armed Forces, especially because they work in “urgent needs” which change all the time “and adapting to the urgency of each moment”.
The King declared that the support of the Royal Family for the victims of DANA “will be continuous”, as they have expressed since the beginning of the emergency, sending different messages of support to the Valencian people and which they have confirmed by their visit. . ten days ago in the town of Paiporta, where they were received with cries of “murderers!” for being accompanied by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón; that the Valencians designate as responsible for the death of DANA. This tense visit prevented them from visiting the city of Chiva, but the kings declared that they would return soon, which was confirmed by the Zarzuela Palace. This new visit of the Kings will take place next week and, as the King declared this Tuesday, they will come “with the same spirit” as always, to be alongside the Valencian people. “Everyone must be in their place,” said Don Felipe, thus emphasizing that the Head of State – as a symbol of the unity of the country – will be, in this situation and in all future ones, alongside the Spaniards .
At the Bétera military base, on the outskirts of Valencia, the army monitors 72 areas affected by DANA, which, on October 29, caused an unprecedented flood in the Valencian Community, which has claimed the lives of 214 people so far. The king went there dressed in the dry field uniform of the army and in the company of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, to know first-hand the missions of the troops, in coordination with the Military Unit of emergency (UME). .
A visit to the Armed Forces
The king arrived after two in the afternoon. He ate tuna pasta and meatballs in the garden of the base canteen and sat at different tables chatting with soldiers. He conveyed his pride and that of all Spaniards in the armed forces. Then, Don Felipe visited the command post of the UME, Emergency Response Battalion (BIEM III), located in the center of the base, where the UME Chief Lieutenant General, Javier Marcos, explained the current situation in the affected areas, with the leader of the third battalion, Ángel Martínez Puy.
The King was also accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Briones, force leader of the Air Force air contingent, which has more than 600 soldiers. According to Briones, when everyone finishes their respective jobs, no one wants to go home to rest on their days off. Here they give support for EMU interventions. “We arrived on November 1 and the activities were very varied, from collecting debris and mud to night surveillance, in addition to some search missions,” said Lieutenant Colonel Briones, thanking Felipe VI for his presence in Bétera: “Your This visit encourages us enough to continue here.”
Don Felipe did not stop questioning the commanders about each of the emergencies in which the military has participated so far in the areas affected by DANA. Once finished, in the same square on the base where the command post is located, he said goodbye to the troops before heading to the Galicia ship, the second stop of your tour, in the port of Valencia.
On board the National Navy ship, with a capacity to accommodate 800 members of the Armed Forces, the King visited the hospital and the infirmary on board, in addition to the Intensive care unit, the two operating rooms and the laboratory. From the ship, a total of 310 soldiers coordinate with the EMU for tasks that require greater urgency.
From the Bétera base and the Galicia ship, the army coordinates with the various forward command posts of the UME, present on the ground, in the affected localities. In total, according to the head of the UME, there are 8,445 displaced in the region.
The king’s final step was to Valencia Fairwhere 2,500 soldiers spend the night. Don Felipe was with 600 of them in the dining room of the lounge, where he conveyed to them the gratitude of Spain and the Valencian people to the armed forces.
“Attention, His Majesty the King!”
Hearing “Attention, Your Majesty the King!” “, the soldiers stood up and Don Felipe entered the dining roomseparated by screens from the area where the soldiers sleep, in sleeping bags on folding beds. Don Felipe greeted those in charge of the field kitchen, who were in a sort of army food truck, next to a container that read “ebutido” and crates of fruit. For dinner there were hamburgers which smelled very good.
“In your operational life, you had not envisaged a scenario like this, on Spanish territory,” the King told them, reminding them that in this mission they showed that “the Spanish soldier gives everything”: “And not only for the satisfaction of the duty accomplished but for all that you help so many people.”
“I want to convey to you the pride and gratitude that, as the supreme commandment of the Armed ForcesI am sorry to verify something that I already knew, but which is verified in a mission of these characteristics, namely the response capacity of our army in emergency situations. “It fills us all with pride, we Spaniards.”
The King addressed the soldiers whose families suffered the effects of DANA to tell them that they had felt this pride. Like them, those who have no connection to those affected: “You know what that means because you’ve seen it in their faces, what an outstretched hand to help means in an emergency of this magnitude.”
He encouraged everyone to continue because “there is a lot of work to do” and highlighted military logistics, essential for everything to work and even more so in situations like this. The King said goodbye to everyone with gratitude: “Thank you. Thank you for giving everything, thank you for completing the mission. And thank you for giving hope.
