Special Operations Troops Centre

The CTOE - Centro de Tropas de Operações Especiais (Special Operations Troops Centre), based in Lamego, is a unit of the Portuguese Army with the mission of instructing troops in unconventional warfare and Counter-Terrorism. Until 2006, it was known as CIOE - Centro de Instrução de Operações Especiais (Special Operations Instruction Centre).

The CTOE contains an operational unit called DOE, its Special Operations Detachment, popularly known as Rangers, tasked with performing missions similar to the US Army's Delta Force or British Special Air Service. Some of these missions include conducting Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRP), raids against high-value targets, locating enemy command and control centres, targeting and destruction of enemy air defences and radar systems, and POW rescue operations. The unit can be infiltrated by parachute, helicopter, small boat, or by foot.

History

Crispin and Crispinian

Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the Christian patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers. Beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October 285 or 286.

History

Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian fled persecution for their faith, ending up at Soissons, where they preached Christianity to the Gauls whilst making shoes by night. While it is stated that they were twin brothers, that has not been positively proved.

They earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and thrown into the river with millstones around their necks. Though they survived, they were beheaded by the Emperor c. 286.

An alternative account gives them to be sons of a noble Romano-Briton family who lived in Canterbury, following their father's murder for displeasing the Roman Emperor. As they were approaching maturity their mother sent them to London to seek apprenticeship and to avoid coming to the attention of their father's killer. Travelling there, the brothers came across a shoemaker's workshop at Faversham and decided to travel no further and stayed in Faversham. This account fails to explain how the brothers came to be venerated and martyred.

Crispin (surname)

Crispin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Crispin (disambiguation)

Crispin may refer to:

See also