Chap Len Eacott will be the next Principal Chaplain-Army.

THE Army has a new Anglican Archdeacon, Chap Len Eacott.

The appointment is a pre-cursor to his appointment as the Army's Principal Chaplain later this year.

He currently serves as Command Chaplain LHQ.

Chap Eacott, who is originally from Toowoomba, Queensland, joined the Army in 1966 as a CMF soldier and commenced national service in1968.

On completion of his compulsory service he continued in the Army Reserve and served as an infantryman until his ordination as a priest in 1983.

After seven years of service as an Army Reserve Chaplain he transferred to the ARA in the same role in 1990.

He has since served overseas in Cambodia and as senior padre to Interfet.

Chap Eacott said he was looking forward to his new duties as archdeacon and, eventually, as Principal Chaplain.

"I am very humbled by being appointed to the ministry of archdeacon and by the trust that others have put in me to carry out the tasks I've been called to," he said.

Each of the three services has an archdeacon whose duties include the recruitment and appointment of military clergy, the pastoral care of chaplains and their families as well as the strengthening of the fellowship between the ADF and military chaplains of different denominations.

By Maj Tony Park