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Single command for all land functions within the Australian Defence Force
Military unit
Forces Command
(
FORCOMD
) is the largest command within the
Australian Army
responsible for the combat brigades, the enabling and training formations reporting to the
Chief of the Army
with approximately 85% of the Army's personnel.
[1]
[2]
[3]
The Command was formed on 1 July 2009 with the amalgamation of Land Command and Training Command,
[4]
and is led by a
major general
as the Commander Forces Command (COMD FORCOMD).
History
[
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]
On 27 September 2008 the
Chief of Army
, Lieutenant General
Ken Gillespie
, announced a restructure of the army command structure named
Adaptive Army
.
[5]
The structure had remained nearly the same since the Hassett Review restructure in 1973 of Land Command and Training Command.
[6]
In October 2022, the
9th Brigade
was placed under the command of Forces Command.
[7]
In July 2023, the
1st
,
3rd
and
7th
Brigades were placed under the command of the 1st (Australian) Division.
[8]
The
Combat Training Centre
and
39th Operational Support Battalion
were placed under the command of Forces Command.
[8]
Organisation
[
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]
Commander Forces Command
[
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]
The following have held the position of Commander Forces Command or its preceding positions, with the ranks and honours as at the completion of their tenure:
Rank
|
Name
|
Post-nominals
|
Term began
|
Term ended
|
Field Force Command
|
Major General
|
Kenneth Mackay
|
CB
,
MBE
|
1973
|
1974
[12]
|
Major General
|
Donald Dunstan
|
CB
,
CBE
|
1974
|
1977
|
Major General
|
Mark Bradbury
|
AO
,
CBE
|
1977
|
1979
|
Major General
|
John Williamson
|
AO
,
OBE
|
1979
|
1980
|
Major General
|
Ron Grey
|
AO
,
DSO
|
1980
|
1983
|
Major General
|
John Kelly
|
AO
,
DSO
|
1983
|
1984
|
Major General
|
Lawrence O'Donnell
|
AO
|
1985
|
1986
|
Land Commander Australia
|
Major General
|
Lawrence O'Donnell
|
AO
|
1986
|
1987
|
Major General
|
Neville Smethurst
|
AO
,
MBE
|
1987
|
1990
|
Major General
|
Murray Blake
|
AO
,
MC
|
1990
|
1994
|
Major General
|
Peter Arnison
|
AO
|
1994
|
1996
|
Major General
|
Frank Hickling
|
AO
,
CSC
|
1996
|
1998
|
Major General
|
John Hartley
|
AO
|
1998
|
2000
|
Major General
|
Peter Cosgrove
|
AC
,
MC
|
March 2000
|
July 2000
|
Major General
|
Peter Abigail
|
AO
|
July 2000
|
December 2002
|
Major General
|
David Hurley
|
AO
,
DSC
|
December 2002
|
December 2003
|
Major General
|
Ken Gillespie
|
AO
,
DSC
,
CSM
|
January 2004
|
July 2005
|
Major General
|
Mark Kelly
|
AO
|
July 2005
|
December 2008
|
Major General
|
David Morrison
|
AM
|
December 2008
|
July 2009
|
Commander Forces Command
|
Major General
|
David Morrison
|
AO
|
July 2009
|
June 2011
|
Major General
|
Jeffrey Sengelman
|
DSC
,
AM
,
CSC
|
June 2011
|
November 2011
|
Major General
|
Michael Slater
|
AO
,
DSC
,
CSC
|
November 2011
|
23 January 2015
|
Major General
|
Gus Gilmore
|
AO
,
DSC
|
23 January 2015
|
December 2016
|
Major General
|
Gus McLachlan
|
AO
|
December 2016
|
December 2018
|
Major General
|
Greg Bilton
|
AM
,
CSC
|
December 2018
|
June 2019
|
Major General
|
Chris Field
|
AM
,
CSC
|
June 2019
|
February 2020
|
Major General
|
Matt Pearse
|
AM
|
February 2020
|
November 2022
|
Major General
|
Susan Coyle
|
AM
,
CSC
,
DSM
|
November 2022
|
|
References
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]