Fernando Robles

For his bravery while participating in the operations against the UPA, 2nd Lt. Robles was awarded the Medalha de Prata de Valor Militar com palma (Silver Military Medal of Valor with Palm). After re-joining and graduating from Academia Militar he joined the Portuguese Commandos. As a lieutenant and later on a captain of this special force, Robles served in Guinea-Bissau and – for a second time – in Angola, where he remained until 1975. After the war he was transferred to the Guarda Nacional Republicana and retired as a colonel in 2002.

After graduating from Colégio Militar and failing his second year at Academia Militar, Robles was initially commissioned a conscripted second lieutenant (in Portuguese "Alferes miliciano") of infantry. In 1960, he volunteered for training and assignment to a new Portuguese special operations and counterinsurgency force, the Companhias de Caçadores Especiais (Special Sharpshooter Companies, or CCE). The initial Caçadores Especiais companies were composed of volunteers from standard infantry units who were considered better adapted for intensive training in antiguerrilla operations. Trained at the Centro de Instrução de Operações Especiais (CIOE, or Center for Special Operations Instruction) in Lamego, the CCE were the first Portuguese troops to wear the brown beret and camouflage combat uniform in combat.

Fernando Augusto Colaço Leal Robles or Fernando Robles (born 15 August 1940) is a Portuguese former Second Lieutenant (later Colonel) who participated in initial counterinsurgency operations against insurgent União dos Povos de Angola (UPA) guerrillas operating in northern Angola during 1961, at the onset of the Portuguese Colonial War. He was born in Coimbra.