Webinar: Thought Leaders Webinar Series - GEN Thierry Burkhard, French Army Chief of Staff by Association of the United States Army

Thought Leaders Webinar Series - GEN Thierry Burkhard, French Army Chief of Staff

About

AUSA’s Thought Leaders webinar series—an extension of our Thought Leaders podcast—will temporarily take the place of the General Bernard W. Rogers Strategic Issues Forum and General Lyman L. Lemnitzer Lecture Series.

With a tight focus on senior military leaders and contemporary military authors, Thought Leaders seeks to educate the public on critical issues affecting land forces and strategy. Please join us on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 at 1000 as GEN Thierry Burkhard, French Army Chief of Staff, introduces his strategic vision for the French Army to an American audience. Followed by GEN Burkhard's opening remarks, MG Michel Delion, Director of the Center for Doctrine and Command, will present the vision in detail.

WEBINAR ENDED

Presenters

Peter Herrly

LTG Guy Swan III, U.S. Army Retired

AUSA Vice President, Education

GEN Carter Ham, U.S. Army Retired

AUSA's President and Chief Executive Officer

GEN Thierry Burkhard

Chief of the French Army

Born on 30th July 1964, General Burkhard is married and father of three.

After graduating from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy (Class “Cadet de la France libre” 85-88) followed by the School of Infantry, General Burkhard was then posted to the 2nd Foreign Legion Airborne Regiment (2e REP) in Calvi (Corsica). His service at Regimental Duty, as combat platoon leader, pathfinder platoon leader, Company Commander and Operation’s Officer, included several operational deployments in French Guyana, Iraq, Ex- Yugoslavia, Chad and Gabon.

In 1996, he was posted to the French Joint Staff in Paris as Staff
Officer in the Joint OpCentre (CPCO).

Upon graduation from the Advanced Staff Course and the Joint War College in 2000, he was assigned to the 4th Foreign Legion Regiment (4e RE) in Castelnaudary as S3 from 2000 to 2002.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 2001, he was posted in 2002 to Cayenne (French Guyana) for two years as Head of the Operational Branch in the Joint HQ. In 2004, he moved back to Paris as the Deputy of the J3 EUROPE cell in CPCO. He was promoted to Colonel in 2005.

He was then deployed for one year in Côte d’Ivoire as Military Assistant of the General Officer Commanding the French Operation “Licorne”. From 2007 to 2008 he was Deputy Director Joint Staff / Communication and deployed twice to Afghanistan.

In 2008 he was selected to command of the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (13e DBLE) in Djibouti. In August 2010 he took over the post of Director Joint Staff / Communication for three years.

In September 2013, he was appointed National Intelligence Advisor to the President of the French Republic. Promoted to Brigadier General in 2014, he was posted in 2015 as Deputy Director and subsequently Director of CPCO in August 2017 and promoted to the rank of Major General.

He was appointed Army Inspector in August 2018 and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.

He took over as Chief of the French Army (CEMAT) on 31st July 2019 and has been promoted to the rank of General the same day.

General Thierry BURKHARD is Commandeur of the Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur of the Ordre
National du Mérite and awarded of the Croix de Guerre for overseas Operations and the Military Cross.

MG Michel Delion

Director of the Center for Doctrine and Command Teaching (CDEC)

Born on September 20 th, 1963 in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

As a Saint-Cyr alumnus from the “General de Monsabert”
graduating class in 1982, he chose artillery and joined the
35th Airborne Artillery Regiment of Tarbes as a platoon leader on September 1st, 1986.

He commanded a battery in summer 1991 before assuming the regimental Jumpmaster position in 1993. He then returned to the Artillery School in 1995 as an instructor within the Platoon Commander Training Division.

From 1996 to 1998, he attended the 110th Staff College and the 5th School of Warfare graduating class in Paris before returning to the 35th Airborne Artillery Regiment in 1998 as Operations staff commander. He returned to Paris on August 1st, 2000 as a group instructor in the Staff College
(114th, 115th, 116th graduating classes), before being appointed Head of exercise planning at the Land
Forces Command (CFAT) to Lille in 2003.

Promoted to Colonel on July 1st, 2004, he assumed the command of the 35th Airborne Artillery Regiment on July 1st, 2005 and deployed in late 2006 in Kosovo (BATFRA13). From 2007 to 2008, he served under the aegis of the European Union as the Deputy Chief of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo).

From 2008 to 2014, he served at the Joint Operations Planning and Command & Control Center. He served as commander of the European Area of Operations (J3), then planning manager (J5) for the Global Area of Operations and finally Army Operations Deputy Commander for 4 years. From 2014 to
2016, he served at the 11th Airborne Brigade in Toulouse as Deputy Commander.

Promoted to Brigadier General on July 1st, 2016, he was appointed Artillery School Commandant and Deputy Commandant of Draguignan Military Schools. On August 1st 2018, he was appointed the Deputy Director of the Center for Doctrine and Command Teaching before assuming its command as of July 22nd 2019.

On October 1st 2019, he is promoted Major General.

General Michel DELION has served in multiple areas of operations such as Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Chad, the Persian Gulf, the Balkans, Sentinelle and participated in the national assessment of almost any recent operations. Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honor) and Commandeur de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Commander of The National Order of Merit), he has also been bestowed the Croix de guerre des théâtres d’opérations extérieurs (War cross for foreign operational theatres) as well as the Croix de la Valeur Militaire (Cross for Military Valor).

As a military history enthusiast, in 2014 he was awarded his PhD, with a thesis on “the history of military thinking”.

BG Todd R. Wasmund

s the first U.S. General Officer selected as an exchange officer with the French Army and began serving as the Deputy Commanding General – Operations of the 3rd (French) Division in Marseille in January 2020.
Commissioned into the Field Artillery in 1991 upon graduation from the United States Military Academy, he has served in a variety of positions throughout the United States, Europe, South Korea and Asia.
He has had the privilege to lead Soldiers on a Border Transition Team in Iraq, and he commanded the 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery in the United States and in Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, he also served as the Chief of Staff of the Combined Training Advisory Group – Army in support of the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan. He later commanded the 3rd Infantry Division Artillery Brigade at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
While serving as the Deputy Commanding General (Support) of the 1st Infantry Division, he commanded the Division Headquarters (Forward) in Poland.
BG Wasmund’s staff experience includes Chief of the Joint Staff, J35, Joint Operations Division in support of U.S. Africa Command and Chief of Staff of the Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
He holds degrees from the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and the Dwight D. Eisenhower School at the National Defense University, and he served as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Economics at the U.S. Military Academy.
His awards include the Combat Action Badge, Ranger Tab, Parachutist Badge, French Parachutist Badge, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.
BG Wasmund and his wife, Tracy, are most proud of their five children and eight grandchildren.

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