Klaus Iohannis, on tour in Africa, decided who will be the new Chief of Defense Staff

It is about Lieutenant General Gheorghiță Vlad (pictured), current deputy of the head of SMAP, writes journalist and military analyst Radu Tudor on his blog.

Gheorghiță will take over his position on November 30 from General Daniel Petrescu, whose mandate expires.

The mandate of the head of SMAP is 4 years.

He is a member of the Supreme National Defense Council and Romania’s representative in the NATO Military Committee, the supreme military decision-making structure of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Who is General Gheorghiță Vlad, the future Chief of Defense Staff

General Gheorghiță Vlad was born on September 7, 1969, in Bucharest.

He is married and has two children.

Performs the position of Deputy Chief of the Defense General Staff from August 16, 2022.

Between February 2020 and August 2022, he held the position of deputy for operations and training of the head of SMAP.

Between August 2017 and February 2020 he was commander of the 2nd Infantry Division “Getica” Buzău and between 2016 and 2017 he was in command of the “Getica” National Combined Training Center in Cincu.

In 2007, he participated as a staff officer in the Multinational Force Command in Iraq.

Between 2005 and 2014 he held various positions: commander of the 631st Tank Battalion, head of planning in the Operational Service at the General Staff of the Land Forces, head of information at the Land Operational Component and commander of the 1st Mechanized Brigade “Argedava”.

He graduated from the “Dimitrie Cantemir” Military High School in 1988, the Military School for active Tank officers from Pitesti in 1991 and began his career as a tank platoon commander at the 22nd Tank Regiment in Bucharest.

Later, he completed numerous forms of studies and training, including those of the Inter-Army Faculty of the Academy of Advanced Military Studies (graduated in 2002), the Communication Systems and Informatics course – Ede, Holland, the postgraduate course at the National College of Defense Bucharest, the Peacekeeping Operations course – Oberammergau, Germany, a master’s degree in International Relations and Security Studies at “Lucian Blaga” University – Sibiu, as well as a master’s degree in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College – Carlisle, USA .

He is decorated with: the Order of “Military Virtue” in the rank of Knight, the Emblem of Merit 3rd class “In the Service of the Romanian Army”, the Emblem of Merit 1st class “In the Service of Peace”, the Emblem of Honor of the Romanian Army, the Emblem of Defense Staff Honor, Land Forces Honor Emblem, Air Force Honor Emblem, Military Medicine Honor Emblem, Human Resources Honor Emblem, Logistics Honor Emblem.