New Chief of Staff in Army appointed

Major General Dampath Fernando has been appointed as the 52nd Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army, announced the Military Secretariat, the Army said. He succeeded Major General Amal Karunasekara who retired from the service a few days ago.

Major General Fernando was serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Army Headquarters before he was appointed as the Chief of Staff, the second highest office in the Army. He is also the incumbent Colonel of the Regiment, the Gemunu Watch of the Army.

He joined the Sri Lanka Army (Regular Force) as an Officer Cadet on 27 April 1983 and underwent basic military training at the Sri Lanka Military Academy - Diyatalawa in the Intake 18. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 7 November 1984, and posted afterwards to the GW Regiment.

During his career of more than 34 years, he has held a variety of staff appointments. Among them are the General Staff Officer II at the Directorate of Training at the Army Headquarters, Brigade Major of 521 Brigade, Director Psychological Operations, Director Sports, Director General Operations & System at the office of the Chief of Defence Staff, Officer Instructor at Kotelawala Defence University, Commanding Officer at Kotelawala Defence University, Commandant at Army Training School, Maduruoya before he was appointed the Deputy Chief of Staff.

To his credit, he had also held several operational appointments, such as the Battalion Commander of 5 Gemunu Watch, 8 Gemunu Watch, Brigade Commander of 533 & 512 Brigades, General Officer Commanding of 23, 65 & 54 Divisions before he was appointed the Commander, Security Forces in Mullaittivu.

As a talented sportsman, he represented Sri Lanka in basketball and Defence Services squash tournaments. He is a proud product of De Mazenod College, Kandana.