General Hertz Pires Do Nascimento

Commander of the Southern Military Command Brazilian Army

General HERTZ PIRES DO NASCIMENTO was born in Rio de Janeiro on June 2, 1963. He joined the Army on February 27, 1982, at the Agulhas Negras Military Academy (AMAN), Resende-RJ.

He was commissioned as an Officer of the Cavalry on December 7, 1985, serving in the 1st Combat Tank Regiment in Rio de Janeiro. He completed the Cavalry Captain’s Advanced Training in 1994 and the Army Command and General Staff School in 1999-2000. He served as an Instructor at Agulhas Negras Military Academy on two occasions.

As a Senior Officer, he was Deputy for Operations of the 3rd Army Division; Intelligence Analyst of the Army Intelligence Centre; Deputy of the Operations Division of the Land Operations Command; Head of the Production and Publishing Division of the Army Social Communication Centre; Head of the Doctrine and Research Division of the Army Doctrine Centre; and Commander of the 7th Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul.

Abroad, he attended the Belgium Armoured School, the Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs Course at Fort Bragg –United States, the Military Training Course and the English Language Cooperation Program of NATO in Canada. He also served as Chief of the Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs Section at the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, and the Brazilian Army's Liaison Officer at the US Army Combined Arms Centre, in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As a General, he served as Commander of the 3rd Mechanized Cavalry Brigade, in Bagé, Rio Grande do Sul; Head of the Army Doctrine Centre, in Brasília; and Commander of the 3rd Army Division, in Santa Maria.

General Hertz was awarded several national and foreign decorations, including the Medal of the Order of Defence Merit (Grand Officer), Order of Military Merit (Grand Officer), Order of Military Judicial Merit (High Distinction) and the Meritorious Services Medal of the US Army.

Before assuming the Southern Military Command, General Hertz was Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff, in Brasilia-DF