General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Frangoulis Frangos ( el, Φραγκούλης Φράγκος, born

Komotini Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-pr ...

1951) is a retired

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer, former chief of the

Hellenic Army General Staff The Hellenic Army General Staff ( el, Γενικό Επιτελείο Στρατού, abbrev. ΓΕΣ) is the general staff of the Hellenic Army, the terrestrial component of the Greek Armed Forces. It was established in 1904. Since 1950, the HAGS ...

and former Minister for National Defence. He was born in

and entered the

Hellenic Military Academy The Hellenic Army Academy ( el, Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in G ...

in 1970, graduating in 1974 first of his class and being named a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He is a graduate of the Supreme War School and of the

NATO Defence College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the f ...

. He also pursued studies in Law at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, continuing with post-graduate courses in European and International Law at the

Panteion University The Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences ( el, Πάντειον Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών), usually referred to simply as the Panteion University, is a university loc ...

. Frangos also received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

Geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...

from the

Ionian University The Ionian University (Greek: Iόνιο Πανεπιστήμιο) is a university located in the Ionian Islands, Greece. It is one of the newest institutions of Higher Education in Greece, created in 1984 pursuant to presidential order 83/84 Φ ...

. He served in

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

units early in his career, qualifying as a

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

, as well as in staff and command positions of larger formations, as well as Greece's Army attache and Defence attache in the Greek embassy in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Frangos commanded the 32nd Marines Brigade in 2002–2003, before being assigned to head the

Hellenic National Defence General Staff The Hellenic National Defence General Staff ( el, Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας, abbr. ΓΕΕΘΑ) is the senior staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces. It was established in 1950, when the separate armed services minist ...

's Planning Directorate. In 2004 he was promoted to Major General and assumed command of the Inter-service Military Intelligence Directorate. In 2006 he assumed command of the 16th Mechanized Infantry Division. A year later he was promoted to Lt. General and assumed command of the II Army Corps, and in 2008 he was placed as commander of the First Army in

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

. On 6 August 2009, by decision of the

Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence The National Security Governmental Council ( el, Κυβερνητικό Συμβούλιο Εθνικής Ασφαλείας) (ex. Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence), usually known by its acronym KYSEA (ΚΥΣΕΑ), is the supreme d ...

, he was appointed Chief of the

, a position he held until a surprise major reshuffle in the Greek military leadership on 1 November 2011. Frangos retired with the rank of full

. On 17 May 2012 he was named as Minister for National Defence in the

caretaker cabinet A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

Panagiotis Pikrammenos Panagiotis Pikrammenos ( el, Παναγιώτης Πικραμμένος, ; born 1945) is a Greek judge and politician who since 9 July 2019 serves as the Deputy Prime Minister of Greece. He briefly served as the caretaker Prime Minister of Gree ...

, which led the country until the June general election. General Frangos is married and has two children. He also speaks English, Russian and Turkish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frangos, Frangoulis 1951 births Hellenic Army generals Chiefs of the Hellenic Army General Staff Living people Ministers of National Defence of Greece National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni NATO Defense College alumni People from Komotini Greek expatriates in Turkey