In the office of Dr. Rafael Gallardo, in the heart of Jaén, few things remind us of the military world. Patient stories coexist, decades of dedication to a high level orthodontics and the meticulous work of someone who has been practicing for almost thirty years … exclusively his specialty. But, beyond the blouse, gloves and mask, Gallardo wears another uniform: that of Armed Forces Volunteer Reservist Badge. A career that few people would imagine in a prestigious health professional, unrelated to military life, who decided to embark on this path relying on the career of his son Alejandro, today a pilot in the Air Force in Torrejón de Ardoz.
It is the story of a citizen who entered the military world first out of curiosity, then out of conviction and finally to better understand the life his son had chosen. A parallel profession, very different a priori from my own,” my professional colleagues ask me, incredulous and surprisedfor this facet,” he admits.
The spark that lit his path was born almost by chance. His son Alejandro had entered the General Air Academy, following his vocation and demonstrating exceptional aptitude for combat aviation. Gallardo then began to take an interest in news from the military world and to inquire about the training and discipline his son would receive. It was at one of these moments, while browsing the Internet, that he “came across” the Official State Gazette which announced the competition for voluntary reserve places: two vacancies for military dentists. “I saw it and thought: why not?», he recalls in statements to ABC. “They are one of those things in life to which we owe a lot,” he admits. It was the germ of a new life.
Serving the civilian world
The process was neither immediate nor easy. To access the Voluntary Reserve, you must have a training professional, depending on the chosen specialty, and complete training conviction before the step that is taken. It is necessary to pass a selective process which includes academic merits, language knowledge, a medical examination and a psychological test. Gallardo prepared his resume, certified his English level, gathered his qualifications and took the tests. As it is a competition of merit only the best candidates They get the place. A few months later he received the news.
The sentence was necessary to face basic military training, carried out in his case in Torrejón de Ardoz during the summer of 2021. To do this, he gave up part of his vacation and since then he has continued to do so every time he has been activated: “We, the reservists, are used to give up a lot of our timesometimes on vacation, for having served in the armed forces. In most cases, when it comes to highly qualified professionals, the sacrifice is not only personal, it is also economic.
For the doctor, who curiously had not completed the obligatory military service for his dental studies in his youth, this instruction was a discovery. Dress like everyone else, share schedules and fatigue, learn closed order and basic weapon handling, study a program and take an exam. “It’s an incredible experience“, he explains. “Experiencing the same thing as your peers, belonging to a group, the feeling of camaraderie is very close.”
After successfully completing the course and taking the oath under the flag, it was officially constituted as volunteer reservist ensign of the Military Medical Corpsin the specialty of dentistry.
During this time he participated in various activations: at the General Air Academy, at the Guzmán el Bueno Brigade in Córdoba and at the Alfonso XIII Brigade of the Legion in Viator. His work as a military dentist includes oral examinations of contingents assigned to international missions, such as those of the peacekeepers in Lebanonand watch out for dental emergencies in different destinations.
The volunteer reservist maintains his professional activity and becomes active when he can fit it into his schedule. “Every time I am active, it is because I understand that I can do it, organize my work, advance my agenda, talk about it with my partner.”
But beyond training and professional functions, for Gallardo, the Voluntary Reserve was a deep approach to your child’s world. “It allowed me to get to know their environment, understand what their professional life will be like and admire the effort that being a career soldier requires.”
“It allowed me to get to know their environment, to understand what their professional life will be like and to admire the effort that being a career soldier requires”
The discipline, responsibility and commitment he observes in Alejandro from his experience at the academy, and now from his own participation as a reservist, has allowed him to appreciate first-hand the demands of military life. By observing his son’s journey from the inside, he says he feels even greater respect, for example when he remembers his first plane flight: “When you see a 19-year-old take a plane alone, you realize the amount of work that is done at the Academy.”
And this father’s pride rests on many foundations. Alejandro Gallardo, 23, is a lieutenant in the Air and Space Force, specializing in EF-18 Hornet fighter and attack pilot after completing the General Air Academy. In addition, it has a engineering degree in industrial organization awarded by the Polytechnic University of Cartagena.
The anecdotes between the two are numerous and they even experienced unusual moments, such as a coincidence at the General Air Academy even when their son was still a cadet. Moments which, as a father, allowed him to see the transformation of a young man who in a short time acquired order, responsibility and leadership ability. “I remember after the first class he would come home, fold his clothes and organize his things almost to the millimeter, ironing shirts with astonishing cleanliness, things he didn’t even know how to do before,” he comments with a laugh, reflecting a mixture of pride and admiration.
Personal contribution
The ensign also tells us about what military life brings him on a personal and professional level. Life in the voluntary reserve taught him values what he considers essential and, as he admits, which he sometimes lacks in civilian life: respect, education, discipline and order. “When we live in an environment where everything is based on a relationship of absolute respect and cordiality“You realize how valuable it is to transfer these principles into everyday life,” he says. He even integrated into his work at the clinic certain habits and methods learned in the armed forces, since planning until methodical execution of their tasks.
In addition to his services inherent to his profession, the reserve offers him the opportunity to get out of his usual routine, accustomed to teaching orthodontic courses in the most prestigious universities in Spain, during his last activation in the Defense Sub-delegation in Jaén he participated in talks, conferences and career guidance programs in which the world of the Armed Forces gets closer to the children of the province’s educational centers.
In this sense, he emphasizes that beyond financial remuneration, being a reservist implies a personal commitment, a sacrifice of time and an exercise of responsibility which gives him a deep satisfaction. It is not an adventure or a hobby, but a form of serious collaboration that requires discipline, training and availability.
Today, four years after this BOE discovered by chance, he declares that he entered motivated by curiosity, personal motivation and the desire to understand the world in which his son will develop throughout his professional life. But also for something deeper: “I am very happy with my decision. The feeling of serve others It makes up for everything.”
It’s an unusual story: that of an established doctor who decided to look beyond his practice to serve in a different uniform than he had ever imagined.
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