Brigadier General José De Meer Madrid (born in 1969) was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in 1993 after graduation from the Army Military Academy. Throughout his entire military career, he has served in airborne units and the Spanish Legion.
In his early career, General José De Meer Madrid served as a Platoon Commander in the Spanish Legion and Airborne Brigade before deploying to Bosnia Herzegovina in 1996. After promotion to Captain, he commanded the 13th Airborne Rifle Company and the 14th Airborne Support Company, both within the 3rd Airborne Battalion. While there, he deployed twice to Kosovo (2000 and 2001) and Afghanistan (2004) when he gained promotion to Major.
General José De Meer Madrid attended Staff College in 2005 and was later posted to the Airborne Brigade Headquarters (HQ), deploying twice to Lebanon (2007) as Sector East (SECEAST) G4 and again (2010) as Chief of Operations. In 2012, he returned to Afghanistan as the Spanish (ESP) Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Chief of Operations.
In 2013, General José De Meer Madrid was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and posted as Chief of Staff (COS) of the Spanish Legion deploying again for a third time in 2015 to Lebanon as the SECEAST COS. After returning to Spain from Lebanon, he was posted to the Spanish Operational Command as J5 Commander, before being assigned to attend the US Army War College where he graduated in June 2018. From July 2018 to June 2020, he was posted to SHAPE before being promoted to the rank of Colonel as the Commander for the Spanish Legion, 4th Regiment in Ronda Mala until he was promoted to Brigadier General in 2023.
General José De Meer Madrid has been married to Begoña for 28 years and together they have three grown children aged 25, 21 and 19, and his hobbies include cross fit and reading.