Chief of the French Army

General Thierry Burkhard is the Chief of the French Army.  Commissioned in the infantry in 1988 from the Military Academy at Saint Cyr, he began his career with eight years of continual service in the French Foreign Legion’s famed 2^nd Parachute Regiment, which included operational deployments in Iraq, the Balkans, and Africa.

He later served as the operations officer of the 4^th Foreign Legion Regiment. His overseas staff tours included operational assignments with the French JTF in French Guyane and as the military assistant to the French Commander of the major peacekeeping operation in the Ivory Coast. He deployed twice to Afghanistan while serving as deputy Communications Director on the French Joint Staff. He was then selected to command the 13^th Foreign Legion demi-brigade in Djibouti.

Following this command tour, he was appointed Director of the French Joint Staff Communications Directorate, and then served successively as intelligence advisor to the President of France, as the J3 of the French Joint Staff, and as the French Army Inspector General. He assumed duty as the Chief of the French Army on 31 July 2019.