Lieutenant Colonel Brenton Gasteen Biography
Lieutenant Colonel Brenton Gasteen
RFD Commanding Officer
Brenton Gasteen was born in Adelaide on 18th July 1961. After completing his secondary education at St Peter's College in Adelaide he undertook tertiary studies at the South Australian Institute of Technology (now University of South Australia), graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Building Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the Boral Building Award.
Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen enlisted into the Army Reserve in October 1980 as a Rifleman in the Adelaide University Regiment (AUR). Selected for officer training he was commissioned into the Royal Australian Corps of Transport in March 1983 but transferred to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps in October of that year. His initial appointment was as Transport Officer in AUR. Subsequent postings in AUR included Platoon Commander, two periods of duty as an Officer Cadet Instructor and as Officer Commanding Headquarter Company.
In July 1987 Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen was posted to the 10th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment (10 RSAR) as a Platoon Commander. Following the battalion's linking with 27 RSAR in November 1987 he served as the Regimental Signals Officer 10/27 RSAR before being reposted to AUR in 1990. Further service with 10/27 RSAR has included Officer Commanding B Company (1998) and Officer Commanding Support Company (2002 to 2003). On two separate occasions in 2003 he was acting Battalion Second in Command before formally assuming this position in 2004. He was posted to Army Personnel Agency-Adelaide (APA-A) in January 2006 where he held the positions of Career Manager -Arms, SO2 Boards, SO2 Soldier Career Management and SO1 Career Management. He commanded 10/27 RSAR from January 2010 until July 2012.
Staff appointments include postings in the S3 Cell and as the Intelligence Officer (S2) on Headquarters 9th Brigade from 1994 to 1997. In addition to training appointments within AUR Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen has served as an Officer Training Wing Instructor at Regional Training Centre - South Australia (RTC-SA) preparing and delivering GRES First Appointment Course, Intermediate Staff Course and Intermediate Operations Course modules.
Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen is a graduate of the Reserve Command and Staff College Junior and Intermediate Courses in 1987 and 1993 respectively, the Intermediate Operations Course in 1999 and the Australian Command and Staff College in 2005.
Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen assumed his current appointment as Commander Combined Task Force 635 on 3 August 2012.
In his civilian career, Lieutenant Colonel Gasteen works at the professional and management level within the industrial and commercial construction industry in Adelaide. He has been involved in many projects ranging from simple refurbishments to large geometrically complex high profile projects for private, and state and federal government clients. He is currently employed as a Project Administrator with Cox Constructions, having been with the company for the last seventeen years.
His leisure interests include photography, camping, adventure travel, sea kayaking, cycling and squash.