Major General John Whittaker has been appointed as the new Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) by the Minister of Defence and Government. In this role, Major General Whittaker will be responsible for the fighting efficiency, training, organisation, equipment distribution and operational planning functions of Óglaigh na hÉireann.
Major General Whittaker is a professional Infantry and Special Forces officer with over 39 years’ experience in a wide variety of appointments overseas and at home, where he is currently serving as the Director of Training and Education. In this role, Major General Whittaker was responsible for the development of training policy in accordance with current doctrine, the coordination of all training and education across the Defence Forces, and monitoring standards achieved in order to ensure the highest levels of operational capability, efficiency and effectiveness.
Major General Whittaker was appointed as the Director of Training and Education in July 2024 and previously has served as the Director of Public Relations, Director of Transport and the Commandant of the Military College, in addition to the Commanding Officer of 6th Infantry Battalion in Custume Barracks, Athlone. Overseas, Major General Whittaker has served as the Deputy Commander of Sector West in UNIFIL, as well as the Senior Irish Officer to the EU Training Mission in Mali and to Kosovo with KFOR. Major General Whittaker's overseas deployments also include 4 deployments to South Lebanon with UNIFIL, an Army Ranger Wing deployment to East Timor with INTERFET and as the Commander of Ireland's first EU Battlegroup, the EU-NORDIC BG.
Major General Whittaker is a graduate of the Irish Command and Staff School and holds post graduate qualifications of a Masters of Arts in Leadership, Management and Defence Studies from Maynooth University, a Masters of Science in Human Resource Leadership from Sheffield Hallam University and an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Executive Coaching from Kingstown College. Major General Whittaker is a native of Co. Cork and is married to Catherine and they have two children; Eoin and Cian. They now live now in Connemara, Co. Galway.
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