COMANF
Brazilian Marine Corps special operations force
The Marine Corps Special Operations Battalion, also known as Tonelero Battalion/Toneleros or Amphibious Commandos (COMANF), is a special operations battalion of the Brazilian Marine Corps. Its attributes include planning, conducting and executing special reconnaissance, direct action, counterterrorism and hostage rescue operations in support of Brazilian Marine Corps operations.
History
The Tonelero Battalion (named after the Passage of the Tonelero) was created in the 9th of September 1971, due to the Marine Corps' interest in having a unit dedicated to anti-guerrilla warfare. At first, the battalion had a Command and Service Company and a Special Operations Company, which was structured similarly to one of the Marine Corps' infantry companies. In 1972, the first class of officers passed the battalion's selection, then called the "Counter-Guerrilla Course". Tonelero selection would then go through several changes throughout the years before being named "Special Course of Amphibious Commandos" (CEsComAnf) in 1998.
Despite initially being a reserve battalion for the Marine Corps, by 1996 COMANF had welcomed an Amphibious Recon Company and a Land Recon Company into its ranks, having become the Marine Corps' main unit for special operations and becoming directly subordinate to the Marine Corps Command.
Structure
1st Special Operations Company
Specialized Reconnaissance - RECON, pre-assault and post-assault reconnaissance actions are involved in support of landing forces, with highly qualified personnel as scuba divers or using the parachute as a means of infiltration with the mission of identifying and reporting enemy activities, conducting fires of support weapons, deploy sensors on the ground and guide operations with aircraft.
2nd Special Operations Company
Commandos Action (Direct Actions), Commando actions aim to destroy or damage relevant objectives, retake facilities, capture or rescue personnel, obtain data, mislead and produce psychological effects.
3rd Special Operations Company
Special Rescue and Recapture Group (GERR-OpEsp), the Special Rescue and Recapture Group (GERR), has the mission of rescuing military or civilian authorities kept in illegal confinement, counterterrorism, search and rescue of pilots slaughtered in combat and retake zones facilities of interest to the Navy and/or the Federal Government.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “COMANF” as brazilian Marine Corps special operations force. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as brazilian Marine Corps special operations force. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5013350. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1972, 1998 and 1996.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “COMANF”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow COMANF primary sources, COMANF archive and COMANF research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “COMANF”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “COMANF” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.