Ejército de Tierra

GENERAL OF THE ARMY FULGENCIO COLL BUCHER:

Fulgencio Coll Bucher was promoted to General (four stars) in July 2008 and has served as Chief of Staff of the Army ever since.

He was born in Palma de Mallorca on 18 July, 1948, the son of Fulgencio Coll, an Infantry General, and Anne Bucher Bodmer, a native of Versoix, Geneva, Switzerland.He received his education at the San Francisco School in Palma de Mallorca and at the Mahon High School in Menorca. General Coll graduated as an Infantry Lieutenant in July, 1970, as a Staff Officer in 1985, and was promoted to Brigadier General in 2001. He is married and is father of three children.

He is a specialist in Special Operations, Diving and Parachuting as well as an experienced Staff Officer. He speaks English and French.

During his professional career he has been assigned to Special Operations units; to the staffs of the Spanish Army and the European Army Corps in Strasbourg; and to mechanized infantry units with the ranks of Colonel- as Commander of the 31st Regiment “Asturias”-, of Brigadier General- as Commander of the 11th Brigade “Extremadura”- and when promoted to Major General, he was commissioned to command the Mechanized Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 2006 and was given the task of creating the Military Emergency Unit, to become later its first Commander.

Some of his international experience has already been addressed, but the missions in which he has taken part have certainly had the strongest influence in his character and way of acting. He participated as UN observer in Angola, commanded the Support Unit sent to aid Mozambique during the 2000’s floods, he also commanded the Spanish contingent in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the flag of NATO, and the 2nd Multinational Brigade “Plus Ultra” in Iraq.

Among the national decorations he has received are worth to mention the Isabel la Católica Grand Cross, the Grand Cross of Military Merit, and the Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of San Hermenegildo.

He has also been conferred with decorations from other countries and organizations such as the French Gold Medal of National Defense, the French Legion of Honor, the Bronze Cross of Merit of the Italian Army, the Gold Medal of the Polish Army as well as different NATO and UN medals.

As Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army, he is a member of FINABEL, of the Spanish National Defense Council, and of the Spanish Council of Chiefs of Staff.