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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090014-1

'''FIGURE 8. Ski troops, trained at the Military Mountain School at Jaca, on parade at Victory Day ceremonies in Madrid (U/OU)''' (picture)

officers. The army's two highest schools - the Superior School of the Army and the General Staff School - were combined in 1965 into a single institution, also called the Superior School of the Army, located in Madrid. However, although there is one overall director (a major general), each of the two parts of the school has its own director (a brigadier general) and its own curriculum, and for all practical purposes the schools have remained separate. Selected army officers attend the US Command and General Staff College each year on an exchange agreement. Exchange agreements are also in effect with staff and war colleges in Italy, France, West Germany, Portugal, and Argentina, although exchanges are not made on a regular basis. An existing exchange agreement with the United Kingdom has not been used in the past few years. Various Latin American and other countries send students to a number of Spanish Army schools and to the Civil Guard Academy, although not on an exchange arrangement. Several Spanish Army officers attend specialized schools in France and the United States, including the US Army Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Engineer, and Signal Schools. Specialized training for officers and noncommissioned officers assigned to the helicopter units and to the SAM battalion is provided in the United States. Selected officers attend courses in statistics and industrial organization at the University of Madrid. Except for officers recruited from specialized civilian professions, such as the medical, regular army and most Civil Guard officers are graduates of the General Military Academy at Zaragoza. Upon completion of the 2-year course, graduates spend 2 more years at the academy of their chosen arm (infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineer) or the quartermaster corps. Officer candidates seeking a career in one of the other corps or services, such as medical, auditing, or judge advocate, are normally graduates of civilian universities. After attending a short orientation course at the infantry academy, a 1- or 2-year course at the appropriate corps or service academy, and a short training period at the General Military Academy with graduates of all the academies, they enter the army as captains. A few competent noncommissioned officers are selected to attend a 2-year course at the Auxiliary Military Academy, after which they attend one of the branch academies along with graduates of the General Military Academy. The Auxiliary Military Academy also provides an administrative course for noncommissioned officers who desire to become officers on the auxiliary list. When commissioned, these officers are not placed on the regular rolls, they must remain on the auxiliary list for administrative duties only, and they never advance beyond the rank of major. As in the US Army, branch schools provide advanced courses for qualification, familiarization, and specialization for both officers and noncommissioned officers. The army has specialized schools, such as the Army Polytechnic School in Madrid, where nightly technical courses of varying lengths (up to 7 years) are provided in ordnance, signal, and engineering, and the Military Mountain School at Jaca, which gives specialized courses in mountain and guerilla warfare. The army does not have an airborne school; approximately 50 officers and 1,500 enlisted men annually attend the Air Force Parachute School at Aleantarilla Airbase. The army also relies on the air ground cooperation course at the Superior Air School on a regular basis. Only selected prospective staff officers and higher commanders from the combat arms are eligible to attend the 1-year general staff course in the General Staff School portion of the Superior School of the Army. The 6-month command course given in the upper level of the Superior School of the Army is offered to selected colonels and a few lieutenant colonels, all from the combat arms. The course is designed for prospective general officers and is one of the requirements for promotion to brigadier general. Selected navy, air force, and foreign officers may attend the command course. Some army majors and lieutenant colonels who are graduates of the general staff course are selected to attend the 7-month joint staff course at the Superior Center of National Defense Studies (CESEDEN). Selected army general officers

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090014-1