Military abuse in Spain: the recruit who injured his own eye

The confession of the recruit who injured his own eye to avoid military service

In 1987, Juan Carlos Arniz Sanz wanted to become a military police officer. During entrance exams, he saw a soldier being beaten for no reason. What he witnessed left a mark on him: he deliberately failed the technical exam and left. Two years later, already doing his compulsory military service, he trusted a green beret officer who assured him that no one got beaten there. That promise was false.

His testimony, gathered in two interviews alongside that of other former soldiers, describes a barracks where violence was part of the routine. Arniz Sanz says he saw only one way out: an injury. After considering an extreme outcome, he chose to injure his own eye to secure a permanent discharge. He had ten months of service left. "I brought it on myself," he says without self-pity, "I accept it and would do it again in a million lifetimes."

The code of silence in the barracks

His story fits the description of an internal culture based on "keep quiet and obey." Anyone who stepped out of line got beaten. Arniz Sanz himself stayed silent for years: he published a book in 1995 without mentioning the incident or naming the soldiers. He refuses to present himself as a victim, collect a small benefit for his mental health, or turn his tragedy into a spectacle. It was not until 2024, after three years without work and with his savings exhausted, that he applied for the IMV (a Spanish minimum income benefit).

A generational shift

The former recruit observes that younger people understand better what he went through. He hopes that, once the defenders of iron discipline are gone, his story will be understood without prejudice. For now, the abuse he denounces remains in that grey area: the military justice system of the time did not recognize such complaints, and victims stayed silent for decades.