However, there was a lack of resources in the first years of operation, which began to change in 1918, with the hiring of the “Indigenous Mission”, a body of instructors influenced by the military reformism of the Young Turks [pt].

The class at the end of 1919 became the core of the lieutenants' revolts, because, contrary to what the Army authorities intended, the students' environment was politicized and the insubordinate tradition of Praia Vermelha was not extinguished.

In 1903, Minister of War Francisco de Paula Argolo described this type of officer as “completely foreign to the true military profession, without the habit of discipline and subordination, with a pronounced tendency to argue and criticize the orders he receives, and who by all means he tries to avoid a life whose tasks he considers incompatible with his theoretical preparation and his scientific title”.

[13] The changes in education had other reforms in the Army as a context, such as the creation of a modern organic structure, the institution of compulsory military service (the Sortition Law) and the regularity of the instruction and training of troops.

[15] The Young Turks, junior officers who trained in the German Empire from 1906 onwards, returned to Brazil, founding the magazine A Defesa Nacional [pt] (The National Defence) and proposing broad modernizations that should begin with military instruction.

[17] The trend was the expansion of the barracks away from the city center, following the railway network, due to real estate appreciation, the need for open spaces to train new weapons and maneuvers and the protection of war material deposits.

[19][20] In the 1930s, colonel José Pessoa negatively evaluated the location, considering it to have an unpleasant climate, monotonous landscape, vulnerable to malaria outbreaks in the surrounding swamps and, even so, too close to the city center.

Several members of the group were admitted to the Brazilian Army General Staff (EME) in 1910–1914, under the leadership of José Caetano de Faria [pt], who was then Minister of War in 1914–1918.

[49] José Pessoa resigned in 1934 in protest against Minister of War Góis Monteiro, who demanded the re-enrollment of some discharged cadets and other measures he considered political interference.

[51] The changes in military education were based on the transition to a strong and authoritarian state, culminating in the implementation of the Estado Novo in 1937,[52] and the ideological radicalization of communists and integralists.

[97] A decade later, the dormitories, infirmary, kitchen and dining halls were already degraded, there were no specific places for leisure and prison, there was little water and physical activities were carried out in soggy land.

These included, among other improvements, a closer train station, grand hall, service gate, furniture, decor and expanded classrooms and living quarters.

This lasts until today, but it was unprecedented in Brazilian military education; until then, they were treated as different levels of study, and students learned content that they would not apply in service in their branches.

[139] Entering the ranks of the Army was, during the First Brazilian Republic, a means of intellectual training and social ascension for families of modest economic status, especially those of the urban middle class.

[145] The 1934 regulation intended to broaden the candidates' social base, making it less endogenous and attracting the best civilian elements;[72] until then, graduates of the Military Colleges occupied almost all positions.

[159][160] The disciplinary offenses provided for in the regulations ranged from common delays to more serious cases such as fights in the city or on the tram, confronting an instructor's authority or absence from the School during a punishment.

For José Pessoa, the greatest control over the cadet should be his own conscience, and prison outside the School was harmful, as it mixed inexperienced young people with whom they should not have contact (undisciplined soldiers).

[165][166] José Pessoa himself ended his command in 1934 with a student strike, and for a year the two generals who succeeded him were unable to maintain control; only colonel Mascarenhas de Morais, who took office in 1935, managed to impose discipline again.

[174] Rites of passage such as hazing, exams, choosing branches, field exercises and graduation created a sense of belonging to the Army and the class, giving rise to the “Realengo generation”.

[161] The infamous “death ramp”, in which the students, carrying all the equipment, had to climb a steep obstacle, jump over a deep ditch and crawl under barbed wire, left Humberto Castelo Branco injured for two weeks.

Nocturnal getaways were undertaken to discuss politics, steal chickens, as meals were austere, and visit nearby prostitutes, as the School was an exclusive male environment.

He discouraged their participation in the suburban festivities of Méier and Bangu, prohibited their permanence in taverns and billiards, “where elements of all classes gather, so as to avoid a promiscuity that does not pay them any respect”, and convinced the biggest clubs (Tijuca and Fluminense) to invite cadets to their dances.

[193] At that time, students wore a khaki uniform with leather leggings, identified by a brass insignia, depicting a castle, worn on the high collar.

[194][195] The historic uniforms, coat of arms, small swords, the Cadets Corps and the standard, developed at this time, are a successful case of “invention of traditions”, which remain in use at AMAN.

[203] The young officers reached a new level of professionalism and tactical knowledge; Cordeiro de Farias defined his generation formed in 1919 as the first in the Army to receive a truly military training.

As a result of the revolt, the Indigenous Mission came to an end and even colonel Monteiro de Barros, loyal to the government, lost command because of his attitude of trying to flee Vila Militar.

[211][212] After the outbreak of the 1930 Revolution outside Rio de Janeiro, the School was put on standby and students' access to the radio and newspapers was prohibited, seeking, without success, to avoid being contaminated by the revolutionary climate.

José Pessoa, commander of the School, refused Góis Monteiro's request to employ two or three batteries of artillery, furnished with cadets, on the front lines against the constitutionalists.

From there emerged what historian Frank McCann defined as "the most technically professional rebels the Army has ever faced", such as Luís Carlos Prestes, Antônio de Siqueira Campos, Eduardo Gomes and Juarez Távora.

[220] There Siqueira Campos, Eduardo Gomes and Juarez Távora discussed politics and the First World War at the "Tugúrio de Marte", a rented house outside the School, sometimes frequented by Luís Carlos Prestes.