Navy Captain Fuzileiro Clemente Manuel Fernandes Gil was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on 24th August 1971.
After his graduation from the Naval Academy in 1995, he was appointed to the Portuguese Marine Corps where he assumed the following assignments: Platoon Commander, Company Second-in-command and a five-year tour as Commander of the Fire Support Company, with direct responsibilities over mortar, reconnaissance, and anti-tank readiness and deployability, as well as over fire support coordination; Commander of the 21st Marine Company, from October 2004 to September 2005; Marine School Operations Officer, between October 2006 and July 2008; Second-in-command for the Instruction Battalion, at the Marine School, from July 2009 to February 2010, moment he was called to take the positions of Second-in-command for the 2nd Marine Battalion and Chief of Staff for the Light Landing Battalion task force. From May 2011 to August 2014, he fulfilled the duties of staff officer at the Planning Division of the Navy Staff, followed by a tour as, simultaneously, Second-in-command for the Marine School and Chief of the General Support Department for the Marine Corps HQ. From 17th September 2016 to 8th June 2020, he served at the Multinational CIMIC Group HQ, in Italy, as CJ2 Branch Chief and Portuguese Senior National Representative. From 26th July 2020 to 21st September 2022, he was the Head of the Operations Department, Chief of Staff and Security Officer for the Marine Corps HQ, followed by a tour as the Commanding Officer for the Marine School, from 21st September 2022 to 29th September 2023.
Navy Captain Fernandes Gil attended the MILAN Platoon Commanders Course in the UK, the Curso de Especialidad en Artilleria y Coordinación de Fuegos in Spain, the Joint Staff Course at the Portuguese Superior Military Studies Institute, the Command and Staff Course at the Command and Staff College – United States Marine Corps University, where he also obtained a Master of Military Studies degree. His investigation on Riverine Operations has been awarded the Brigadier AW Hammett Award “for outstanding academic accomplishment”.
He had the opportunity to participate in several overseas deployments, namely: two Non-combatant Evacuation Operations, in the Republic of Zaire in 1997 and in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in 1998; three tours in East-Timor as part of the Portuguese contingents for the United Nations in this country, respectively from January to August 2000, January to July 2003 and April to June 2004; one tour with the NATO International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), as mentor to the Afghan National Army, from September 2010 to April 2011; one deployment in the Republic of Mali, as a member the Portuguese contribution to the European Union Training Mission, acting as an adviser for both the Malian Armed Forces and the Security Forces, and as Portuguese Senior National Representative in this theatre.
Among several medals and commendations, he has been awarded a silver distinguished services medal with golden palm.
Navy Captain Fuzileiro Clemente Manuel Fernandes Gil is married and lives with his family near Lisbon.