Jean-Pierre Kelche is a soldier of the

French Armed Forces The French Armed Forces (french: Forces armées françaises) encompass the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the Gendarmerie of the French Republic. The President of France heads the armed forces as Chief of the Armed Forces. Franc ...

who served as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces from 9 April 1998 until 30 October 2002. Jean-Pierre Kelche, an general of the army was born 19 January 1942 in Mâcon, France, his family are origin of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

. They moved with both of his family to Saint-Cyr in 1961 and later joined the Navy infantry. He graduated from Ecole Supérieure de Guerre in 1979 after spending about 20 year as submariner engineer before changing to army of which was after attending the Ecole Supérieure, he participated Iran-Iraq conflict. At young age, he served in the Côte d'Ivoire on french Operations and commanded a unit in Djibouti in 1973, he rose to be the senior commander in the Antilles-Guyana Staff between 1979 until 1981 of which he commands the 5th Overseas Combined Arms Regiment in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

to 1987.

Commands

He was deployed to 5th Armored Division in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to which he was the deputy general commanding officer in 1991, he was once in charge of updating and the design of the defence tool to which one was the design office of the army staff in 1985 as the head of Doctrine before he was the chief of staff to 1991. He became the head of Army Staff HQ form 1992 until in 1995 of which he was the Head of the Prime Minister's military cabinet until he was made the major general of the army staff in 1996 to 1998, he rose up in the Defence Forces Staff office as it direct subordinate to when he was made the Chief of Staff of the Defence in April 1998.

Post-military

He later became the Head of French Military Intelligence in 2016, a place which Vice-Admiral Jean Casabianca was heading before appointed to another position.

Decorations

* Grand

Officer of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

* Officer of the National Order of Merit *

Cross of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

Family

He is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelche, Jean-Pierre 1942 births Living people People from Mâcon French soldiers French generals French military staff Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commanders of the Legion of Merit École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Chief of the Defence Staff (France)