Commandery Inducts First Allied Veteran Companion

On July 8, 2021, U.S. Army Brigadier General Winston Brooks, NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps deputy chief of staff for operations, presided over the induction ceremony of Spanish Army Brig. Gen. Carlos Salgado Romero, ARRC Deputy Chief of Staff for Support, into the Military Order of Foreign Wars, as a Companion of the Hawaii Commandery during a ceremony on Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, United Kingdom.

BG Salgado was accepted as an Allied Officer Veteran for his qualifying service alongside American forces during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011. Companion Salgado began his military career in 1982 as a cadet in the General Military Academy, and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry in 1987. His first tour of duty was with the 52nd Infantry Regt. in the city of Mililla in Spanish North Africa, followed by a two-year tour in the Spanish Foreign Legion in the “Alejandro Farnesio Regiment” in Ronda-Málaga. As a Captain he served in the mechanized infantry regiment “La Reina 2” in Córdoba, and did a 6 month tour of duty in Bosnia Herzogovina as part of UNPROFOR.

In 1998, he completed teh General Staff Course in Madrid, and was assigned as the G3 of the 10th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Córdoba. He later deployed to Kosovo for 6 months as the Chief of Operations for the Spanish Above: BG Brooks conducts the induction ceremony for BG Salgado, July 8, 2021 at HQ, ARRC, Innsworth UK. Below, Companion Salgado Task Force “Tizona.” with his MOFW Diploma. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Elvis Umanzo.

In 2004, he was assigned to the Allied Joint Force Command Naples in the J3, Information Operations Directorate, where he conducted several recce tours to the Balkans, as part of Operation JOINT ENTERPRISE, that began in 2005, and which included KFOR activities, NATO-EU interaction, and the NATO HQs in Skopje, Tirana and Sarajevo.

Promoted to LTC in 2007, he was posted to the Spanish Land Force HQ in Seville, where he completed several recce tours in Lebanon. Thereafter, he was assigned in 2009 as the Chief of the 8th Legion Battalion in Almeria, where he completed a 7 month tour in Afghanistan as the Chief of an Infantry Kandak Operational Mentoring Liaison Team (OMLT) in the Helmand Region with a team selected from his Battalion.

In 2012, then LTC Salgado was posted again to LF HQ, where he would be promoted to COL in 2014, and assigned as the Chief of the Preparation and Operations Branch, where he contributed to the build-up of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force Land (VFTF-L). Promoted to Brigadier General, he was assigned as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Support at the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, at HQ Innsworth, United Kingdom.

BG Salgado comes from a long tradition of military service. His Great Grandfather, Santos Salgado Araujo was a Captain in the Infantry and participated in several armed conflicts to include: 1) the Spanish Civil War (Guerra Carlista) (1872-1873; 2) the Cuba Campaign (1876-1877), and; 3) the Philippines Campaign (1896 and 1897). He was killed in action commanding his Infantry Co. in Cavite, Spanish Philippines fighting the insurgency in 1897. His Grandfather, Colonel of the Infantry, Ignacio Salgado Gaspar, participated in the Africa Campaign in 1919, the Spanish Civil War (19361939). His Father, Ignacio Salgado Roy (1929-1994), was also a Colonel of the Infantry, as are his two brothers, Col Ignacio Salgado Romero and Col Eduardo Salgado Romero. BG Salgado’s son is a Cadet 2nd Lieutenant in the Spanish Air Force Academy who will receive his commission in July 2022.