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Spain TRAINING AND EDUCATION
Three service academies prepared young men as career
officers. The General Military Academy at Zaragoza
provided a
four-year program leading to a commisssion as lieutenant
in the
army. The first two years and the fourth year consisted of
joint
studies at the academy; the third year was devoted to
training
specific to the branch of service selected. The five-year
curriculum of the Naval Military School at Marin on the
Atlantic
coast included years one, two, and four based at the
academy, a
six-month to eight-month cruise on a school sailing ship
during
the third year, and a fifth year spent primarily aboard
fleet
units. At the General Air Academy at San Javier, the first
three
years consisted of basic studies and introductory flight
training. The fourth year was devoted to the
specialization
chosen. Beginning with the entering class of 1987, a fifth
year
was to be added with further concentration on a
specialization.
As part of the reforms announced in 1985, all of the
academies were expected to provide similar levels of the
general
education needed to undertake future advanced studies; in
particular they were to strengthen the areas of the
humanities
and the social sciences, including the courses on the
constitutional and the justice systems. The curricula were
to
devote 20 percent of courses to the humanities and the
social
sciences, 20 percent to scientific and technical subjects,
10
percent to physical education and recreation, and 50
percent to
military and professional training.
Competition for entry into the academies was keen. In
1986
only 194 out of 3,000 candidates were selected for the
army
academy, only 60 of 800 applicants were chosen for the
naval
academy, and only 78 out of 2,500 were accepted for the
air
academy. The entering classes were decidedly smaller than
they
had been in the past, in order to conform to the new
tables of
organization. In 1980, for example, 275 cadets had entered
the
army academy, 72 had been accepted in the naval academy,
and 126,
in the air academy.
Army noncommissioned officer (NCO) training was
conducted at
the Basic General Academy of Noncommissioned Officers
(Academia
General Basica de Suboficiales--AGBS), in an intensive
three-year
program. The first year consisted of basic military
studies, the
second year was spent in study in a technical training
institute,
and the third year consisted of further specialized
technical
training or additional leadership training at AGBS.
Soldiers
completing the course were promoted to the rank of
sergeant. In
spite of a large number of applicants--more than 10,000 in
1985--the number of candidates accepted was reduced from
more
than 1,100 in 1980 to 610 in 1986.
Each branch of the armed forces had a range of
technical
schools and preparatory courses for successive levels of
command.
The Ministry of Defense directly administered schools in
such
specialties as military justice, accounting,
administration, and
intelligence. Army colonels and lieutenant colonels with
demonstrated aptitudes and qualifications could be
assigned to
the Higher Army School for command and staff studies. The
Naval
Warfare School prepared naval captains and marine colonels
for
higher commands. The Higher Air School provided
corresponding
command training to those air force officers demonstrating
qualities expected to lead to general officer rank.
Training for ground force conscripts consisted of an
initial
four-month period of basic instruction and tactical
exercises at
the squad and the platoon levels. This was followed by two
four-month training cycles providing collective
larger-unit
instruction and tactical exercises. Spanish observers
asserted
that insufficient time was devoted to training and that
its
quality was lax. Recruits complained that they were often
inefficiently occupied, doing minor chores, sitting around
barracks, or assigned to duties in commissaries and clubs.
In
addition to efforts to introduce more meaningful training
and to
increase the amount of time devoted to training, the
government
hoped to meet other objections to the conscription system
by
instituting a new regionalization policy. To the extent
permitted
by national defense needs, servicemen were to be assigned
to
posts near their homes. The previous policy, introduced
under
Franco when the principal mission of the armed forces was
internal security, was to send soldiers to regions where
they had
no personal ties.
The army continued to rely, to a considerable extent,
on
university students, who were fulfilling their
twelve-month
service obligation as second lieutenants, to serve as
platoon
commanders or as sergeants after only six months of basic
training. Observers questioned the continued dependence on
this
recruiting source, which affected the caliber of training
provided to conscripts and reduced the professional
prospects of
career NCOs. One reason for its retention was that
limiting the
number of career officers left the avenues for advancement
to
higher rank less cluttered.
Data as of December 1988
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