The Navy, the Army, and the Air Force are not isolated institutions. They constitute complementary parts of one and the same national defense structure, united by the Flag, by discipline, and by the oath to serve Portugal. The Armed Forces do not exist to serve parties, ideologies, or private interests. They exist to serve the Nation. They must remain above partisan disputes, faithful to the Constitution, to national sovereignty, and to the Portuguese people.
It must also be affirmed, without hesitation, that to invest in national defense is not warmongering.
Peace is not preserved through weakness, through naivety, or through declarations of good intentions.
It is preserved through preparation, through strength, through credibility, and through the capacity for deterrence.
A Country incapable of defending its borders, its territory, its airspace, and its waters ceases to be fully sovereign. It comes to depend on the will, the protection, and the interests of third parties. Portugal must cooperate with its allies, but it must never surrender the capacity to defend itself as an independent Nation.
For far too long, successive Governments have demanded much of the military and offered them little in return. It is common to find resources for bureaucratic structures, ideological projects, and expenditures of dubious usefulness, while there is a shortage of personnel, of modern equipment, of dignified conditions, and of adequate remuneration for those who have sworn to defend the Pátria.
This inversion of priorities is morally unacceptable. It is not enough to pay tribute to the military at official ceremonies. It is not enough to lay a wreath of flowers, deliver a speech, or post a photograph on social media. Truly to respect the Armed Forces means giving their personnel the means necessary to fulfill their mission, and ensuring dignified conditions for their families.
The Armed Forces have demonstrated that their mission goes beyond the strictly military sphere. In fires, in storms, in health crises, in search-and-rescue operations, and in other emergency situations, service members show up wherever they are needed. They do not ask who will receive the political credit. They do not seek applause. They do their duty.
That difference deserves to be recognized.
Honor, Pátria, and duty.
The greatness of the Portuguese Armed Forces does not reside in the ostentation of force, but in the serenity of those who are prepared to act whenever Portugal so requires. It is found in the sentinel who stands watch through the night, in the sailor who faces the ocean, in the soldier who carries out his mission on distant soil, and in the aviator who crosses the skies to save a life.
To honor the Armed Forces is not to glorify war. It is to recognize that freedom has a price, and that, throughout History, that price has often been paid by men and women in uniform.
It is likewise to understand that there is no future without memory, no sovereignty without strength, no liberty without authority, and no Nation without borders.
Portugal must not apologize for its History, for its Flag, for its traditions, or for the men and women who defend it. It must teach them, respect them, and pass them on to the new generations.
"Talant de bien faire."
"Braço às armas feito."
"Em perigos e guerras esforçados."
"Mama Sume."
"Que nunca por vencidos se conheçam."
"Que os muitos, por ser poucos, não temamos."
"Ex Mero Motu."
Different branches, different specialties, and different traditions, but a single Flag, a single Pátria, and a single mission: to serve and to defend Portugal.
May Portugal never forget those who stand ready to defend it.
César DePaço
Businessman and Philanthropist
Consul ad honorem of Portugal from 2014 to 2020
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Nutritionals International Inc.®
Founder and Chairman of the Board of The DePaço Foundation
Unwavering Defender of Law Enforcement and Conservative Principles
This is an opinion column by its author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper.