Major General Juan Jose Soto Rodriguez

Born in Málaga (Spain), on January 31, 1966. He joined the Army on September 1, 1986, graduating as a Cavalry lieutenant on July 15, 1991. He belongs to the 46th Promotion of the General Military Academy.

His current position is Deputy Chief of Staff Multi-Domain Force Development (DCOS MDFD) at HQ SACT.

Among his assignments, he notably served, between 1991 and 1992, as Section Chief Lieutenant in the Lusitania 8 Cavalry Regiment and the Parachute Training Battalion, and between 1992 and 1995, also as a Lieutenant, in the Royal Guard Escort Squadron. In the rank of Captain, between 1995 and 2002, he served in the Rapid Action Force Cavalry Regiment, where he commanded a Squadron in NATO missions in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Upon reaching the rank of Major, after completing the Armed Forces General Staff Course, he served from 2004 to 2007 in the Army General Staff, in the Land Operations Centre, deploying as the Chief of the Joint Operations Centre in UNIFIL (Naqura, Lebanon).

Subsequently, he served from 2007 to 2010 at the Headquarters of the Legion Brigade, where he was deployed to Afghanistan as a “mentor” within an ISAF OMLT. The last year of his service as Major was spent as Chief of Staff of the Legion Cavalry Group as XO.

Upon reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, between 2011 and 2014, he took command of the Reconnaissance Cavalry Group of the Spanish 11 Cavalry Regiment. Between 2014 and 2018, he served in the Technical Office of the Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF), responsible for Planning, Programming and Budgeting of Defence material and financial resources, and was deployed to Mali as the Deputy Chief of the advisory unit of the EU mission (EUTM Mali).

In the rank of Colonel, he was deployed to the Central African Republic as the 2nd Chief and Chief of Staff of the EU mission (EUTM RCA), between 2018 and 2020 he commanded the Farnesio 12 Cavalry Regiment, and between 2020 and 2021 he served in the Digital Transformation Section of the Army.

In 2022, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff Communication (DCOS COM) (cognitive area) of the Headquarters NATO Rapid Deployable Corps, NRDC-ESP (Bétera, Spain) and Chief of Support at the High Readiness Land Headquarters (modelling, simulation, experimentation and innovation area) (Valencia, Spain).

In 2025 he was promoted to Major General and took on his current position.

He has participated in different international missions in Bosnia (NATO), Kosovo (NATO), Lebanon (UN), Afghanistan (NATO), Mali (EU), and CAR (EU).

Among the military courses he has completed, the following stand out: Armed Forces General Staff, NATO Combined Joint Operations Centre, NATO Operational Planning, NATO Expeditionary Operations, NATO Senior Officer Policy, A Comprehensive Approach to Gender in Operations (Netherlands), Advanced Logistics Management studies, Advanced Financial Resource Management studies, update for General Officer Duties, and the Executive Course in Strategic Leadership and Digital Innovation (Italian High Defence Studies Centre) for general officers. He is a paratrooper and a tank specialist. He has completed 2 master’s degrees.

He has the following recognized language levels: English SLP 4.3.3.3, French SLP 4.4.4.4, and Italian SLP 2.2.2.2.

He has been awarded the Grand Cross of Military Merit with a white insignia, the Grand Cross, plaque, commendation, and Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild, as well as a Blue Insignia Military Merit Cross and 8 White Insignia Military Merit Crosses, the Silver Cross of the Order of Merit of the Civil Guard, the 1st Class Saint George Cross of the Portuguese Armed Forces, the Gold and Bronze Medals of the French National Defence, the Commemorative Medal of the Italian Armed Forces, Central African Republic (CAR) Officer of the NAL Order of Service, CAR Order of Recognition, as well as various decorations from NATO, the UN, and the EU. He has 9 national commendations and 2 EU Commendation Letters (Mali and CAR).