Brigadier General Zacarias Hernandez graduated from the Spanish General Military Academy in Zaragoza in 1993 and was posted to Ceuta to join the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Spanish Legion, immediately attending the SOF selection course. From 1995 to 2002 he was assigned to the XIX Special Forces Battalion of the Spanish Legion, and was deployed in 1997 and 2001 to the NATO SFOR operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2002 to 2004, he served in the Spanish Verification Unit. In 2006, he completed the Joint Staff Course and from 2006 to 2010, he was assigned to the Light Forces Division HQ, deploying in 2008 to NATO ISAF Operation
as J5 in Regional Command West. From 2010 to 2013, he was posted to the Operations Division, Army Headquarters, deploying in 2012 to NATO ISAF Operation as J5 of the Special Operations Forces Command.
From 2013 to 2016, he served as Chief of Staff, Army Special Forces Command. From 2016 to 2019, he was assigned to the European Union Division of the Defence Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, and from 2019 to 2020 to the Army Headquarters Plans Branch, deploying in 2020 as Chief of Mentoring & Training of the European Union Mission in Somalia. From 2020 to 2022, he was posted as Commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Spanish Legion "Tercio Duque de Alba". From 2023 to 2024, he served again in the Operations Division of the Army Headquarters. In 2024, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and from the month of July assigned to the role of DCOS PLANS with in the Headquarters Allied Land Command.
He is a graduate of the Spanish General Staff College and the NATO Defence College Senior Course. He holds a Ph.D. in International Law and International Relations, with a dissertation on strategic decision-making in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology. He also holds diplomas from the IESE Business School in Leadership on Civil Administration, from the International Studies Society in Advance International Studies and from the Red Cross on International Humanitarian Law.
Brigadier General Zacarias and his wife Estrella have four children (a son and three daughters)