As a Special
Units Corps, they are tasked with specific missions which necessitate a
permanent operational readiness, this being the reason why Marines have a
highly specialized and demanding training, namely:
-Participate
in amphibious operations, joint and/or combined, integrating national,
multinational or NATO forces, in defense of National territory or Portuguese
interests abroad;
-Perform
humanitarian aid, protection and/or evacuation of national citizens residing
abroad operations, as well as maintaining, imposing or consolidating peace in
an autonomous way or integrated in other forces;
-Execute or
cooperate, with other State agents, drug-trafficking, sea piracy, counter terrorism
and organized crime combat operations;
-Collaborate
in civilian authorities support tasks, namely in catastrophe, calamity or
serious accidents situations;
-Collaborate
in bilateral or multilateral protocol tasks, namely with Portuguese speaking
countries within the scope of military-technical cooperation;
-Collaborate
with forces from the other Armed Forces and security branches.
As a testimony
to its action over its history, the Marine Corps Command National Banner
displays numerous distinctions resulting of individual actions and the highest
awards:
-Military
Order of Tower and Sword of Valor, Loyalty and Mérit;
-Three
collective War Crosses;
-Distinguished
Services Gold Medal;
-Order of the
Infant D. Henrique;
-Order of
Liberty;
-Order of
Tamandaré Medal.
Today the
Portuguese Marines provide close military-technical cooperation to the
Portuguese Official Language Speaking African Countries marines (Angola, Cape
Verde, Guine-Bissau and Mozambique), and have participated in isolated and/or
joint peace keeping and humanitarian aid operations in Bosnia, East Timor,
former Zaire, Guine-Bissau, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Afghanistan and Lithuania, since 1997.
