“The people we train to go to war are not crazy”

GOA Tactical is an Alpicat company that trains people, mostly military, who are ready to fight in war conflicts, and its director explains why they sign up for its courses with the aim of participating in war conflicts such as the war in Ukraine

Why do people sign up for GOA tactical courses to go to war?

It should be taken into account that the preparations made by professionals, such as the army and the police, in Spain are not for real conflicts, but for the peaceful situation in which we live here. In addition, it must be said that between 80 and 85% of people who registered to work outside Spain in war conflicts worked as soldiers, but if they do not have an officer's rank, they can be sergeants, according to the ministry. The Ministry of Defense expels them from the army at the age of 46 and with a pension of only 600 euros. For this reason, they are looking for work outside the country to do what they have done all their lives. In fact, given their age and the job they had, it is very difficult for them to find another job. Moreover, if we look at the numbers, the average age of people who go to war in Ukraine is over 40 years old, precisely because they lost their jobs and want to continue them.

So you don't train civilians?

no. For example, if you as a journalist want to go to war, we will send you the training you have had as a professional in your sector, and we will accompany you at all times to cover the war and with the relevant documents that your company has. You will have already been processed or as a standalone. But we'll never give you a gun to shoot. We used to say that 80-85% of the people who sign up for our courses are military personnel, but the remaining 15-20% are police officers who want to try new things.

What are these courses?

Basically, handling weapons, but we also have to look at the responsibility that this person has with the weapon, because he can shoot while commenting on a war conflict and at some point he can cross people and he has to avoid shooting them. Their career has also been improved and we focus a lot on Stress, because internships in courses are not what they will find when they are in a certain area.

Psychology is also concerned with…

completely. In fact, there are people who we have sent back to courses and told them that they are not fit to go to a war conflict and to return after a while when they are more psychologically prepared. You have to have a lot of mental toughness. They must have a great ability to withstand all the pressures we put on them with different tools, such as pepper spray, or entering tunnels or trenches where they cannot move and where the only reward is pain. We push its capabilities almost to the limit to see if it is valid or not.

There may be people who, reading this interview, compare him to Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group. Do you see it that way?

No, because at GOA Tactical we train. We have been doing this for more than 20 years, and until the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, the community was not aware of our company. But it must be said that there is no other company in Europe that trains people to fight war, and NATO is helping in this case in Ukraine as the Wagner Group did with Russia. The big difference is that at GOA Tactical we do not employ civilians, we do not recruit them, but we train professionals who want to go out there. Including that more than half of the students go to other war conflicts such as those in the Middle East. I insist that if it is not valid we will not send it. But in addition to Ukraine and the Middle East, such as Lebanon and Iraq, we also have people in Africa.

How do they go to these areas?

Because in all countries there are recruitment companies and they usually have technical trainers. After many years, we have many contacts in countless countries, and they contact us because they want ready people, as happened with Ukraine.

Did you participate in any war?

Yes, in Lebanon, Iraq, South America and Africa.

And what moment do you reach the destination?

You have to keep in mind that when you go there, you know that you are going to do it in a certain unit and you are introduced to the different bosses and you make contact, so that at a certain moment on a certain day they tell you that you have run out to a place where there is a certain reality and in this sense, It must also be said that the specialization of the professionals we send, such as snipers, drivers, special operations, etc., is very important here.

There will also be those who say that it is better to live in peace and not seek danger in wars. What will you tell them?

That the people we form who go to war are not crazy. In addition, they must realize that while they are on the terrace of a bar quietly drinking coffee, there are people who are risking their lives so that others like them can live in peace. A good example of this is Ukraine, where there are people on the border who risk their lives every day so that the Russians do not enter the country and go further. If that were not the case, our situation would be like the West.

We recently posted in LA MAÑANA that a man who had trained at GOA Tactical had died in Ukraine. How did you face this situation?

We knew about it almost immediately, because we had direct contact via WhatsApp or radio. It was not a surprise, because those who go there already know what they can find. But it's also true that it hurt us, because he was one of us. It's basically like someone riding a motorcycle with a group up a mountain at full speed and killing themselves in a canyon due to excessive speed. I already knew this could happen. Whoever goes there is not a donkey and understands the danger because he is a professional. What happened in Ukraine is that at the beginning of the war a lot of people thought it wouldn't be like it is now, where a lot of people are dying on the border every day because Russia is trying to occupy all the borders.

How do you think this conflict will end?

I do not see a good ending, because the same signs are being produced as just before World War II, with political incursions, US influence on Europe, arms sales and sales, and with the great importance of existing property. Formed In addition, we must also realize that if World War III breaks out, it will be a nuclear war.