Henri Bentégeat

Henri Bentégeat
Henri Bentégeat in November 2016
Born	(1946-05-27) 27 May 1946 (age 71) Talence Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1966–2009
Rank	General Chief of the Military Staff Chief of the Defence Staff
Commands held	RICM French Forces - Antilles French Defense staff
Awards	Légion d'honneur (Grand Croix) Ordre national du Mérite (Officer) Bundesverdienstkreuz Legion of Merit

Henri Bentégeat (born 27 May 1946 in Talence, France) is a French Army general who served first as the chief of the French Defense Staff between 2002 and 2006 and then as the chairman of the European Union Military Committee between 2006 and 2009.

Bentégeat graduated from the French military academy École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1967 and opted for the Troupes de marine branch. He held various staff and command positions - including several deployments to Senegal, Chad and Central Africa - until he took command of Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine (RICM), which already was a professional regiment at a time when most of the French Army was still drafted. From 1990 to 1992, he served as Assistant Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. and from 1996 to 1998 was commander, French armed forces, West Indies (Lesser Antilles). He served as Assistant to the Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic from 1993.

Bentégeat was promoted to the rank of Brigade General in 1995 and to Divisional General in 1998, when he became assistant to the Director for Strategic Affairs of the French Ministry of Defence. In April 1999, he was made Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic, was promoted to Général de corps d'armée on 1 September 1999 and to Général d'armée on 4 January 2001. He became Chef d'état-major des armées (Chief of the Defence Staff) in October 2002.