In the 1910s and 1920s he spent 12 years in Morocco, both on combat missions and garrison service; during the Spanish Civil War he sided with the Nationalists and commanded units up to a corps.

He returned to line in early 1914, commencing a very intense spell of combat missions, first at Rincón de Medik at the outskirts of Tetuan and then during few other engagements in the hinterland, known as skirmishes at Malalien, Río Martín and Loma Amarilla.

Some of the missions were defensive operations carried out as protection of own logistical lines, some were frontal assault engagements, and some were sieges of enemy strongholds; during different spells Rada served under command of Emilio Barrera, Federico Berenguer, José Sanjurjo and Miguel Campins.

Some included fierce and hardly successful battles, like the attempt to seize control over the area known as Zoco el Jemis de Beni-Bu-Ifrur.

[61] Following the coup of Primo de Rivera in 1923, the dictator dispatched military inspectors (delegados gubernativos) to reform local government and instill patriotism in the population;[62] they were expected to root out the patronage networks of caciques and catalyze the emergence of new, prototypical Spanish citizen.

In December 1923 Rada was nominated to such a role[63] and assigned to the Almerían district of Vera;[64] he kept building local primoriverista structures, like Somatén.

[66] In general, the concept of delegados gubernativos attracted increasing criticism; some claimed that it backfired by alienating local population and generating animosity towards the army.

[74] Following the advent of the Republic in 1931, Rada initially received some minor further honors, but his situation changed when the government of Manuel Azaña embarked on major reform of the army.

He either moved to Madrid or visited the capital frequently, and was often seen during meetings at the Ballena Alegre café, along the likes of Emilio Rodríguez Tarduchy or Luis López Pando.

According to some sources, he became the key man behind the organisation;[85] others tend to agree, but note that formally and jointly with Román Ayza, he was one of two deputy commanders (“auxiliares”), while head of the branch was Luis Arredondo.

[86] At Primera Línea, Rada was instrumental when forming and training the Falangist militia, including teaching them “elementary facts about handling weapons”.

[89] In late 1933, Rada engaged in other organisation, a semi-clandestine Unión Militar Española; its format was a hybrid between political pressure group and a corporative structure, sort of a trade union within the army.

He was among 7 members of its Consejo Ejecutivo;[90] some scholars list him, after Bartolomé Barba Hernández and along Rodríguez Tarduchy, Luis Arredondo Acuña and Gumersindo de la Gándara Morella the key man in the UME decision-making command layer.

[93] Some scholars claim that Rada approached Carlism when he was still related to Falange or that he trained militias of both groupings simultaneously;[94] one author even maintains that he was first working for the Carlists, then moved to FE and then returned to Comunión Tradicionalista.

[99] Rada proved vital for further Carlist military buildup;[100] in late spring of 1936, Requeté grouped 10,000 fully armed and trained men plus 20,000 forming an auxiliary pool.

[101] In contrast to urban-oriented action groups "primarily accustomed to street fighting and pistolerismo", maintained by other parties,[102] Requeté was a "genuine citizen army" capable of performing small-scale tactical military operations.

[110] In the spring, he was appointed member of freshly-created Junta Técnica Militar, headed by Mario Muslera;[111] the body was formed by professional officers, apart from Rada also by Alejandro Utrilla, Eduardo Baselga and José Sanjurjo, son of the exiled general.

[119] He represented a different strategy than the Traditionalist leader, Fal; the latter intended to close a political deal with the military before committing requetés, Rada preferred the opposite.

[121] During the July 1936 coup, Rada resided in Navarre; following smooth seizure of the region, as second in command of a rebel column led by Francisco García Escámez, he left Pamplona.

Having suffocated a resistance island in Logroño[122] on July 22 they reached Sierra de Guadarrama and engaged in combat for control of mountain passes.

[124] In August and September, Rada led his men in the Navafria sector fighting for Puerto de Lozoya; he was promoted to full coronel.

[129] In the summer of 1936, Rada was nominated to the wartime Carlist executive, Junta Nacional Carlista de Guerra; as head of requetés he formed part of its Sección Militar.

[130] Following death of the Carlist king Alfonso Carlos back in 1936, Rada declared full loyalty to the new dynastic leader, Don Javier.

[147] In August the division was shuttled to the Ebro bend and took part in fierce combat across key sectors, including Villalba dels Arcs, Vertice Gaeta,[148] and then in September and October in Sierra de Fatarrella.

[149] In November 1938, Rada assumed command of Cuerpo de Ejército Marroquí; with his HQ in Batea and then Montanejos, he took part in failed assaults towards the Valencian plains.

[156] The same year he visited Nazi Germany learning from tank warfare experiences in Poland[157] and was awarded the Verdienstorden vom Deutschen Adler, apart from Portuguese and Italian honors received later.

He appeared to have been loyal to Franco, did not sign letters pressing monarchist restoration, was admitted at personal audiences in 1939, 1945, 1946 and 1952, and in 1948 received Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil, one of the highest decorations available.

[166] The Francoist security[167] reported with unease that during Semana Santa in Granada a fully uniformed requeté unit paraded across the city saluted on tribune by Utrilla and Rada.

[168] Another report claimed that Carlists operated a front organisation directed by Tomás Lucendo Muñoz, “persona de la confianza del General Rada”.

[170] However, no work on Carlist history in the post-war era mentions Rada as involved,[171] and it seems that though he might have nurtured some Traditionalist sympathies, politically he got fully integrated with the Francoist regime.