So, the U.S. isn’t the only nation that hires poverty stricken people to do the job citizens don’t want to do or refuse to do. Spain, who recently turned to an all volunteer army, is currently struggling to make recruitment quotas for their military. So who are they turning to? Latin America:

For these soldiers from mostly poor countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, the advantages are clear: a steady monthly salary of $1,300, which is not that bad by Spanish standards and rises significantly with overseas assignments, and the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship.

“Who would have thought I would end up taking part in missions with the Spanish army? It is odd, different. But it has opened up a lot of doors for me,” said Dalton Rafael Jimenez, a 22-year-old Ecuadorean who has been in the Spanish army for nearly three years.

The question I have about all these rich Western countries hiring Latin@s to run their military is: What effect does training whole generations of Latin@s in the ways of the military have on the women in their lives? Especially seeing as those people who suffer from PTSD are much more inclined to be abusive and violent towards partners?