Lieutenant General Juan Montenegro

Lieutenant General Juan Montenegro Álvarez de Tejera was born in Madrid on 5th July 1959.

Belonging to the 36th Officer Class of the Spanish Army Military Academy and the 269th Class of the Artillery Academy, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1981. He served between 1981 and 1988 as an Artillery Officer within the 41st Mountain Brigade, Battery Gun Commander and, once promoted to Captain, as Air-Defense Battery Commander within the 94th Artillery Regiment in Canary Islands (Spain).

After conducting the Military Information Systems Course in Spain, he was posted to the Information Systems Development Centre at the Spanish Ministry of Defense until 1993. During this period, he completed the Systems Automation Course at the US Army Computer Science School in Fort Gordon, Atlanta (USA).

In 1993 he was promoted to Major, completing the Command and Staff Course in Spain in 1995 and being assigned to the 1st Mechanized Division “Brunete” HQ. During this period, he was involved in two operations: in 1995 as United Nations Military Observer in the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and in 1998 in Banja-Luka (BosniaHerzegovina) as SFOR Multi National Division South-east (MNDSE) Division Liaison Officer to MND South-west Commander.

Continuing with Staff appointments, he served at the Army General Staff (Plans and Operations Divisions) until he was designated to attend the Belgium General Staff Course in Brussels.

After his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 2001, he served once again in the Joint and Army General Staffs (Plans Divisions), with a special mention to its involvement in European Security and Defense Policy issues along the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council in 2002.

From 2003 to 2004 he was appointed Commander of the Self-Propelled howitzers Artillery Battalion, 10th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Cordoba (Spain).

After this command, he went on to serve at the Ministry of Defense as Technical Advisor to the Secretary of State for Defense until 2009, including the creation of the new Emergency Military Unit and having been promoted to Colonel in 2008. During this period, from February to August 2008, he served as KFOR HQ J3 Operations Chief in Pristina (Kosovo).

From 2009 to 2011 he was posted to the Emergency Military Unit, serving as Chief of Staff at the Headquarters located in the Torrejon Air Force Base in Madrid (Spain).

Having been promoted to Brigadier General on 01 July 2011, he was assigned until June 2013 as EUROCORPS HQ Deputy Chief of Staff Operations (DCOS OPS) in Strasbourg (France). In 2013 he is designated HQ NATO rapid Deployable Corps Spain (NRDC-ESP) DCOS Operations in Betera (Valencia). After two years as DCOS OPS, he has served as Chief of Staff (COS) from 2015 till 2018, having been promoted to Major General in May 2015. He has participated in all NATO activities including the NRDC-ESP certifications as Joint HQ in 2014, enhanced NATO Response Force (eNRF) Land Component Command in 2015 as well as the validation of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in Poland 2016.

He has been designated Military Representative to NATO and European Union military committees in May 2018, taking over this position as at 1st September 2018.

His awards include the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegildo (Great Cross, Cross, Commendation and Plate); Great Cross and 9 Crosses for Military Merit; United Nations UNPROFOR Medal; NATO SFOR Medal Former Yugoslavia; NATO KFOR Medal; French Gold Medal of National Defense, Belgium Order of the Crown; Spanish Civil Protection Medal; the Government of Valencia Gold Cross to the police merit; the National Police cross and the Guardia Civil silver cross.

He is married to Lucia Zaragoza and they have a daughter, Leticia Barbara. Current as June 2018