On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the National Security Bureau (BBN) announced that the President of the Republic of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Andrzej Duda, appointed the General Commander of the Armed Forces, the Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces, and conferred the rank of general of the Polish Army. The appointment certificates will be presented by the President on the National Holiday of May 3rd.
Photo: DG RSZ
General Marek Sokołowski has been appointed as the General Commander of the Armed Forces. He has been acting as the interim General Commander since October 11, 2023. Previously, he served as the First Deputy of the General Commander.
From September 1987 to September 1988, he performed his basic military service within the structures of the Military Internal Service. He is a graduate of the Officer School of Mechanized Forces. He began his professional military service in 1992 in the 10th Airborne Battalion of the 6th Airborne Brigade in Krakow, initially as a commander of an assault platoon, and later of a reconnaissance platoon.
From 1993 to 1995, he participated (two tours) in the UNDOF mission (PKW Syria, Polish Military Contingent in Syria). Starting in 1996, he served in the 25th Air Cavalry Division, which later transformed into the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade. He held various command and staff positions, including company commander, and after graduating from the National Defence University (AON), senior reconnaissance officer of the brigade, battalion staff chief, air squadron staff chief, battalion commander, and brigade training chief. After completing Postgraduate Operational-Strategic Studies, on July 2, 2007, he assumed the position of deputy brigade commander, a role he held until the end of September 2008 – during which time, for 8 months, he also acted as the commander of the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade.
After completing Postgraduate Studies in Defense Policy at the National Defence University (AON), on July 1, 2009, he was once again appointed as the deputy commander of the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade. During the PKW Iraq mission, he held the following positions: in the first rotation (2003/2004) – as the deputy commander of the Independent Air Assault Group, leading the airborne reserve of the multinational division. In the fifth rotation (turn of 2005/2006) – he commanded the air-land assault component as the assistant commander for airmobile operations – maneuver battalion commander.
From December 2011 to June 2012, he served as the Deputy Commander for Coalition Affairs at the Regional Command East (RC-E), headquartered in Bagram, Afghanistan. In 2013, he served as the Commander of the 13th rotation of the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, where soldiers from the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade constituted the core of its forces. In 2014, he was appointed as the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 16th Mechanized Division in Elbląg. On May 2, 2016, he was appointed by the Minister of National Defense, Antoni Macierewicz, as the commander of the 16th Division. On July 19, 2019, he was appointed by the Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, as the Inspector of Training at the General Command of the Armed Forces, and subsequently as the First Deputy General Commander. On August 7 of the previous year, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
Photo: Territorial Defence Forces Command
Brigadier General Krzysztof Stańczyk has been appointed as the Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces, having served as the acting Commander of the TDF since October 11, 2023. Previously, he was the deputy to the Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces.
He is a graduate of the Officer School of Rocket and Artillery Forces in Toruń (1994) and the Postgraduate Studies in Defense Policy (War Studies Univesity, 2023). He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
General Stańczyk began his service in 1994 in the 9th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Braniewo. He then served in the 6th Artillery Brigade in Toruń and the Central Group of Psychological Operations in Bydgoszcz. Since 2007, he has been associated with the Inspectorate for Armed Forces Support, and since 2011 with the Center for Doctrine and Training of the Armed Forces in Bydgoszcz. He is an officer with an impressive combat record – a participant in five missions abroad (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan).
He has been associated with the Territorial Defence Forces since their inception in 2017. He served at the Command of the Territorial Defence Forces as the Chief of the Military Branches Section. Then, from 2018, he was appointed as the Commander of the 8th Kuyavian-Pomeranian Territorial Defence Brigade. On September 11, 2023, he took the position of the First Deputy Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces.
Photo: US Army Europe
Lieutenant General Sławomir Wojciechowski has been promoted to the rank of general in the Polish Army – he is the Polish Military Representative to the NATO and EU Military Committees.
In 1987, he graduated from the Officer School of Air Defense Forces in Koszalin, after which he was promoted to the first officer rank of Second Lieutenant. He began his professional military service at his alma mater, where he successively held the positions of platoon commander, station commander, anti-aircraft missile battery commander, and cadet battery commander. In 1993, he was sent to the National Defence University for command and staff studies. Between 1995 and 1997, he commanded an anti-aircraft artillery squadron in the 3rd Armored Brigade in Trzebiatów. In 1998, in the same unit – reformed into the 36th Armored Brigade, and in 1999 into the 36th Mechanized Brigade – he held the position of chief of air defense.
In March 1999, he was assigned to Zielona Góra, where, as a lieutenant colonel, he took on the role of deputy commander of the 4th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, a position he held until 2004. On May 28 of that year, in the presence of General Waldemar Skrzypczak, commander of the 11th Armored Cavalry Division, he assumed the duties of the regiment commander. After the regiment was granted the title “Zielonogórski,” he served as the commander of the 4th Zielonogórski Anti-Aircraft Regiment with the rank of colonel until 2007. In 2001, he completed postgraduate command and staff studies at the British Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) in Shrivenham, United Kingdom, and attended the NATO Joint Operations Center course in Oberammergau, Germany, in 2002. In 2005, he was the chief of staff of the Multinational Division Central-South during the fourth rotation of the Polish Military Contingent in Iraq.
In 2007, he was transferred to Żagań to take up the position of training chief of the 11th Armored Cavalry Division. In 2008, he completed a year-long postgraduate study in defense policy at the US Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, USA. On September 15, 2008, he assumed command of the 17th Mechanized Brigade in Międzyrzecze and Wędrzyn in the presence of the commander of the 11th Armored Cavalry Division, General Paweł Lamla. On November 8, 2008, President of Poland Lech Kaczyński appointed him as a brigadier general. From 2009 to 2010, the 17th Mechanized Brigade was the first unit from Poland to form the core of the European Union Battle Group (Force Headquarters Commander EUBG/I 2010), which he commanded. From April 2011 to October 2011, he commanded the 9th rotation of the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan. He handed over command of the brigade from Międzyrzecze to General Rajmund Andrzejczak on January 5, 2012.
In 2012, he took up the position of Deputy Chief of the Operational Planning Directorate – P3 at the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. On April 10, 2012, he received the honorary title of Leading Unit of the Polish Armed Forces. In 2013, he became the director of the Department of Strategy and Defense Planning at the Ministry of National Defense. While holding this position, he also worked in the Team for the New Command and Control System of the Polish Armed Forces and, after its implementation, became the head of this team, whose task was to prepare an assessment of the then ongoing reform.
In 2015, he became the Deputy Of The Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, and on January 10, 2017, he was appointed as the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces and was promoted to the rank of major general. The nomination was presented by President Andrzej Duda upon the recommendation of the Minister of National Defense, Antoni Macierewicz. In 2017, he earned his doctorate at the War Studies University. On February 22, 2018, President Andrzej Duda, upon the recommendation of the Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, appointed him to the rank of lieutenant general, corresponding to the position assigned to the operational commander. He received his appointment from President Andrzej Duda on March 1, 2018, during the National Remembrance Day of the Cursed Soldiers.
On September 12, 2018, he was assigned to Szczecin as the commander of the Multinational Corps Northeast, a position he held until November 19, 2021. In 2020, he was part of the Program Council of the General Tadeusz Kościuszko Military Academy of Land Forces in Wrocław. In November 2021, the Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, transferred him to the personnel reserve as part of his duties at the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. On July 14, 2022, he assumed the role of Polish Military Representative to the NATO and EU Military Committees.
On February 29th this year, at the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, a briefing of the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense took place during which the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, announced the nomination of Gen. Wojciechowski as the Polish candidate for the position of the Chief of the European Union Military Committee.
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