Soldiers from Spain, the USA and Poland celebrate the feast of Saint Barbara in Incirlik

Every December 4, artillerymen from different countries celebrate the day of their patron saint, Saint Barbara, with military events.

Paznic Detachment, the Spanish fighters that fly from the shores of the Black Sea
The BRIPAC coincides in Slovakia with the LKOV Valuk, the Slovenian relative of the Spanish BMR

Both Spanish and Polish artillerymen have this tradition in common, as both countries are traditionally Catholic. Yesterday, the Spanish Army and the Polish Army held tributes to Saint Barbara in different places, and at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, the celebration was joint between soldiers from Spain and Poland and airmen from the United States. Yesterday, the Spanish Defense Staff published this video of the event, in which we see the Spanish artillerymen singing the Artillery Hymn:

El contingente AT XX, desplegado en Turquía, celebra una parada militar con motivo del día de Santa Bárbara, patrona de la Artillería Española. También han acudido representantes de los países aliados presentes en la Base Aérea de Incirlik 🇹🇷. ¡Feliz patrona compañeros 🇪🇸! #MOPS pic.twitter.com/2IYAlT6WGv

— Estado Mayor Defensa 🇪🇸 (@EMADmde) December 4, 2024

In addition, the USAF Base in Incirlik has published a series of photos of this event, in which we can see the soldiers from different nations who attended it. These first photos correspond to the Spanish artillerymen, who wore around their necks the scarves with the red and black colors of the Artillery Branch of the Spanish Army.

In this last photo we see a soldier from the Spanish Army's Engineers Branch, accompanying the artillerymen in the celebration of the feast of their patron saint. The Spanish contingent in Turkey was deployed in September 2014 with a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missiles, at the Incirlik base, in response to the threat of the presence of ISIS terrorists in the region. The Spanish contingent Patriot XX has been in Turkey since June 20.

Here we can see a photo of the Polish Army soldiers who attended this event. Those wearing black berets belong to the Land Forces, while those wearing furażerka (as these military caps are called in Poland) belong to the Air Force. To the right of the Polish soldiers there was also a Turkish soldier.

During this event, a tribute was paid to those who gave their lives for Spain. As we can see in this photo, a USAF airman, in a blue uniform, accompanied the Spanish soldiers when they laid the wreath.

Finally, a photo of the USAF aviators who participated in this event, along with the flags of Spain and the United States.