"Defence Minister Margarita Robles has abandoned us", according to the Spanish Association of Troops and Marines (ATME)

Spain has made a commitment to NATO to increase its military defence spending to 2% by 2030, but the living conditions of its troops are precarious, which, if not addressed promptly by the Ministry of Defence, could become a weakness in times of geopolitical turmoil, wars and geo-economic friction. 

According to Marco Antonio Gómez, the situation of the troops is almost one of abandonment on the part of the acting Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, because she has not fulfilled the commitments she made to the Spanish Association of Troops and Seamen (ATME) to improve salary conditions and meet the demands regarding the professionalisation that soldiers receive during their time in the army.  

In an interview, the ATME president recalled that after the first meeting with Robles, who had just arrived at the head of the Ministry, he came to believe that conditions would really change. 

"We believed that they would finally listen to our requests because we always give our all: we have been there, in each and every one of the disasters we have been sent to, both inside and outside our country," Gómez stressed.  

Although Minister Robles promised to have more meetings with ATME, she has not complied, which for Gómez is "disappointing" because he confesses that he initially believed that the Minister of Defence "would come to change things" but she did not.  "She has left us forgotten". 

We have, Gómez said, more and more military spending due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Spanish troops are not getting an improvement, either in their salary or in their living conditions. 

"And we are the ones who put our lives on the line because we will always be there when we are called. But I do want to say that we are the worst paid of all the public administration, our soldiers and sailors are earning a whopping 1,134 euros net, which is what a soldier takes home here in Spain... it's a real shame; what's more, a civil guard or a national police officer's salary has been raised by an average of 400 to 500 euros," he reiterated.  

Today, continues the military man, it is a real shame: "For one simple reason, we are the guarantors of defence, of the country's freedom, and whenever we are needed for any kind of catastrophe, both at home and abroad, they always turn to the army. We have seen this with the pandemic, the La Palma volcano, the floods and the fires". 

Of course, the Spanish military man complains, there is no skimping on the purchase of tanks or new weapons, but no one takes into account the personnel who will use these weapons to find out what their economic situation is.  

Practically, a soldier is on the lowest pay scale: a person working in a supermarket in Spain on average can earn between 1,400 and 1,600 euros a month.  

So the situation is very complex for the Spanish Armed Forces, which are made up of 120,000 soldiers of all ranks. In this exclusive, Lance Corporal Gómez explains that this salary is the same for all soldiers in the land, sea and air forces, although they are promoted over time. 

"In my case, I have been a lance corporal in the army for 28 years. A local policeman, a boy or a girl, 18 years old, who passes a competitive examination for the police force doubles my salary... almost triples it, and we are talking about 28 years of military service", he adds emphatically. 

Not only is there this wage injustice in the rank of troops and sailors, which Gómez says "is the worst paid in Spain", but there are also cases of sergeants and first sergeants who, after three years at the Academy, leave their posts to go to the Guardia Civil, as privates or local police officers, because they earn more in those posts than as sergeants or first sergeants. 

"We take an oath to die as well as give our lives. We want the Minister of Defence to listen to our demands, we are going to insist again once a government is formed in Spain," he says with conviction.  

In addition, Private Gómez points out that the troops constantly have to take competitive examinations to become a soldier, then a corporal, then a corporal first, and then take the exams for the permanent rank, then for corporal major.  

"So we are the scale that takes the most exams. The tests that are given to military personnel in our scale are always harder and more difficult than any other group, for example, the Guardia Civil or the police," he points out.  

You told me that there are people who no longer want to join the army in Spain because of the same situation... 

There is a lack of corporals, non-commissioned officers, sergeants. People don't want to be officers because they've been dragging their families along all their lives and they don't get any help; nowadays, lieutenant colonels, who are people with more than 16 years of service, are leaving to work for Amazon or for security companies that see in the military a qualified personnel who are also very hard-working.  

Recently, Gómez continues, the army itself sent a letter asking battalion chiefs to take over their units: "Because they didn't want to and they gave up their promotions because it means moving with your family and they don't help you with geographical mobility; the Ministry of Defence gives a real handout for mobility, we're talking about 200 euros to take the family with you; it's a disgrace". 

And then there is the problem of temporariness.... 

In fact, we also have to take into account the temporary nature of the armed forces. When a boy or girl reaches 45 years of age, the law says that he or she must leave the Armed Forces with a non-contributory salary of 638 euros; he or she leaves without any qualifications, which is the big problem facing the Armed Forces because we don't have any qualifications to prove how many years we have served the country. 

Gómez blurs the drama of Spanish soldiers: "There is no way of accrediting that a soldier has been a cook, electrician, mechanic or has done any technical speciality. So at 45, you leave the Armed Forces, you go out on the street and the National Employment Service does not list any work experience, there is no validation... it's a real aberration". 

Under this scenario, a soldier at the age of 45 must leave the Armed Forces and leave with 600 euros a month and without the professional accreditation to be able to reintegrate into the labour market as a civilian. 

"He leaves to swell the ranks of the long-term unemployed of productive age. Both the Ministry of Defence and the government have to provide effective reincorporation into civilian life, but this is not being done; they are sending men and women who served in the military with nothing to show for it and with many family burdens out onto the street, with practically nothing left but aid and subsidies", the Spanish military officer remarked. 

Gómez insists that it is necessary for the Ministry of Defence to listen to and meet their demands: "It doesn't matter if they are a thousand or four hundred, we are talking about soldiers who are the guarantors of the country's freedom and security. When a soldier goes out on the street to shout for dignity, they should rethink that something is going on, but they don't listen to us". 

What are you proposing? 

We need our minister, who is the head of all the military, to step forward and go to the Ministry of Finance and tell them the real situation we are in. That we are the worst paid of all the public administration and that it is a disgrace because we are on duty 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and that is worth 1,134 euros a month and on top of that we put our lives on the line. 

How many members of the army are in this situation? 

In the rank of troops and sailors, we are the largest in Spain. There are more than 76,000 troops. 

On the delicate situation in Europe, with the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, which has put the entire continent and NATO members on alert; and with the recent war between Israel and Gaza, unleashed following a surprise terrorist attack by Hamas, Gómez perceives the situation as very worrying. "That's why it's essential to have a good army with a well-trained and well-paid military.