Spain SOURCES AND QUALITY OF MANPOWER
Figure 16. Officer Ranks and Insignia, 1988
Figure 17. Enlisted Ranks and Insignia, 1988
Beginning in 1982, major changes in the military
personnel
system were introduced in an effort to deal with the
chronic
problem of overstaffing, to modernize recruitment
procedures, and
to improve the quality of education and training. The
existing
officer complement was far in excess of the number
required by
the new tables of organization adopted in the extensive
reorganization of the army. A total of 41,328 soldiers
were in
the ranks of sergeant through lieutenant general in 1986;
these
were scheduled to be reduced to 35,213 by 1991. In 1986 a
further
4,200 officers were in the active reserves, and 2,000 were
in a
special status called transitional active reserve, a
voluntary
category that had been created to induce officers to
forego their
final two years of active duty while retaining full pay.
The total number of trained reserves was reported to be
1,085,000, as of 1987. These personnel, who were
considered
reservists until the age of thirty-eight, theoretically
would be
available to form brigades needed to fill out incomplete
divisions in an emergency. Reservists did not, however,
attend
periodic refresher courses or undergo retraining.
The mandatory retirement age for general officers,
which had
been between sixty-six and seventy prior to 1981, had been
reduced to sixty-five--after conversion to active reserve
status
on full pay at age sixty-two to sixty-four--as of 1986.
Active
duty for majors, lieutenant colonels, colonels, and their
naval
equivalents was to end about five years earlier than it
had
previously, at age fifty-seven to sixty. In spite of these
changes, it was evident that the number of army generals
still
would be excessive (143 in 1991) in relation to the small
number
of units at the level of division and brigade.
Military promotions historically had been based almost
exclusively on seniority; with few exceptions, years in
grade and
age were the determining factors. Military officers knew
with
considerable certainty when they would advance in rank and
whether or not vacancies existed for them at the new
grade.
Reforms in the promotion system, giving far greater weight
to
professional merit, to previous assignments, and to
special
training, were proposed as early as 1984, but only in 1987
was
specific legislation introduced to modify the procedure.
Reforms of the salary system also were introduced to
raise
and to simplify military wage scales, making them
consistent with
the civil service wage structure. When the new system was
introduced in 1985, it resulted in pay increases of
between 15
percent (for sergeants) and 33 percent (for lieutenant
generals).
Total pay and allowances at the rate of exchange
prevailing in
1988 would be the equivalent of US$19,300 annually for a
colonel,
US$14,800 for a captain, and US$10,000 for a sergeant. No
changes
were proposed in the policy of paying conscripts only
nominal
wages, which amounted to only US$5 a month in 1988.
Also included in the reform legislation of 1984 were a
number
of important changes affecting recruitment and
conscription. For
the first time, conscientious objectors were recognized
officially and offered the possibility of alternate social
service of eighteen to twenty-four months. Obligatory
military
service, previously set at fifteen months for the army and
the
air force, and at eighteen months for the navy, was to be
reduced
over a three-year period to twelve months for all
services. A
gradual shift in the call-up age, from twenty-one years to
nineteen years, also was initiated. Voluntary recruits to
all
services would in the future serve for sixteen months
rather than
eighteen months (twenty-four months for the navy). In
categories
requiring specialized training, enlistments of two to
three years
would be required. The reason for these changes was the
attempt
to achieve an annual intake of 200,000 conscripts and
36,600
enlistees in 1986. The total number of young men qualified
for
military service would exceed these totals combined by an
estimated 71,000. The conscripts would be concentrated in
the
army and the navy. Only 4,700 would be assigned to the air
force,
which expected to attract 16,000 volunteers each year.
The military conscription system was relatively
unpopular;
but the government vowed that it would be maintained. In a
1987
public opinion poll, 76 percent of those queried believed
that
some form of service should be rendered to the state;
however,
only 17 percent felt that the service should be in the
armed
forces. The government's position was believed to be
influenced
by the high rate of unemployment among young men and the
added
cost of depending on voluntary enlistments. Moreover, the
government was apprehensive that an all-professional army
might
be less accountable to civil authority.
Although the 1978 Constitution gives each citizen the
right
to serve in the armed forces, regardless of sex, the full
integration of women had been met by strong resistance.
About
8,000 women were included in a uniformed army auxiliary
health
corps, but they retained civilian status. A small number
of women
auxiliaries in the air force and the navy served in
certain
administrative jobs. As of early 1988, this situation was
on the
brink of change as the result of a royal decree providing
for the
progressive incorporation of women under equal conditions
with
males. Initially, women were to be permitted to apply for
enlistment in the legal, the auditing, the engineering,
the
health, and the veterinary corps of the three services.
Access to
additional corps would be allowed as necessary
organizational
adaptations were completed. No action had been taken to
open the
service academies to women, although individual legal
suits had
been instituted by women seeking admission.
Data as of December 1988
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