Apprentice is now the master

Risen to the top: VCDF Lt-Gen Ken Gillespie and CDF Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston during the CDF handover parade at Russell Offices in Canberra. Photo by Sgt Mark Dowling

By Michael Brooke

FROM Army apprentice to threestar general, Lt-Gen Ken Gillespie said he hopes his rise to the top encourages all personnel that they can achieve any career goal if they work hard because they serve in an organisation that rewards ability and merit.

Lt-Gen Gillespie, the former Land Commander, was promoted to the rank of three-star general and appointed VCDF and also Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS) in a ceremony conducted by outgoing CDF Gen Peter Cosgrove at Victoria Barracks, Sydney.

In a speech following his promotion, Lt-Gen Gillespie described his 35-year Army career as a “long road to get here”.

“But I hope that my promotion today serves as a little lesson to everybody that it doesn’t matter from what walk of life you enter military service, if you are given opportunities and you give them your best effort, then anything is possible,” he said.

He said from his beginning as an Army apprentice brick-layer to the post of VCDF, “I think I can say that in the world, the Australian Army and the ADF is quite unique because of the opportunities for advancement for hard workers”.

“I don’t know of too many other countries where that could happen. I think today is a special day – not only for me but for our organisation because it celebrates that we are quite prepared to give anybody – who can give their all – a chance to succeed and rise to the top,” he said.

Lt-Gen Gillespie told the gathering, that included new CAF AVM Geoffrey Shepherd and new Deputy CJOPS RAdm Rowan Moffitt, that he is thoroughly looking forward to the challenge of VCDF and CJOPS.

“I think that the past couple of years have demonstrated that joint operations is certainly my forte and I am certainly looking forward to working with the new CDF and other Service Chiefs,” he said.

Gen Cosgrove said that Lt-Gen Gillespie had excelled in every senior appointment and had quickly emerged as a “go-to man”. He had performed the job of Land Commander with “great distinction” and it was no surprise that the Government considered him ideal for the posts of CJOPS and VCDF, Gen Cosgrove said.

The post of VCDF has grown from being a job of potential to a job of absolute substance, Gen Cosgrove said.

“The VCDF is the executor of all things operational and a man the CDF will have to trust with the nation’s treasure – the men and women in uniform who perform very hard tasks in far away places,” he said.

“As the Chief of Joint Operations, Lt-Gen Gillespie will have his hands on the warfighting parts of the Navy, Army and the Air Force, and also the logistics systems that support them.

“There’s no more responsible threestar job in the operational chain than that performed by the Chief of Joint Operations and Lt-Gen Gillespie is exactly the right man for the job.”