Thierry Burkhard (born 30 July 1964) is a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

general. He served as the

Chief of Staff of the French Army The Chief of the Army Staff (french: Chef d'état-major de l'armée de terre, CEMAT) is the military head of the French Army. The chief directs the army staff and acts as the principal advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff on subjects concern ...

from 2019 until July 14, 2021, when he was appointed as the Chief of the Defence Staff.
Burkhard has served in the 2ème REP and held command of 13^e DBLE 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 ...

Early career

In 1988, he was enrolled in Military Academy Saint Cyr. After a year of post-academy training, Burkhard graduated as infantry and was posted for continual service in the

2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (french: 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, 2e REP) is the only airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. It is one of the four infantry regiments of the 11th Parachute Brigade and part o ...

. He served from 1989 to 1997. He served in the operations command in Iraq, as operations officer in the

4th Foreign Regiment The 4th Foreign Regiment (french: 4e Régiment étranger, 4e RE) is a training regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. Prior to assuming the main responsibility of training Legion recruits, it was an infantry unit which participated ...

, and with the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Guiana. He also served in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

, during the Yugoslavia Crisis, and during the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Côte d’Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He also served in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

on two occasions, while he was still the deputy Communications Director of the Joint Staff. He was later promoted to the command of the 13e DBLE in

Commands

Thierry Burkhard joined the Information and Public Relations Service of the Armed Forces in 2010. In 2013, he became the Joint Staff Communications Directorate Director, through which he was made the J3 of the French Joint Staff under National Intelligence as coordinator and adviser of

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

to the President in 2015 and the Inspector General of the Army. He was commander of the Operations Planning and Control Center. He was the Chief of Conduct in the Center for Planning and Conduct of Operations

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

before he rose to be in the commands. He later became the Chief of the French Army in July 2019.

References

Citations

* * * * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Burkhard, Thierry 1964 births Living people French generals French military staff French soldiers Chief of the Defence Staff (France) École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Cross for Military Valour Recipients of the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures