Brigadier General Philippe Le Carff

Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Programmes French Army

Brigadier general Philippe Le Carff was born in Brittany in 1972. He was educated in the French “École polytechnique” military academy (class 1992) where he completed his military education in the Navy as chief of the watch aboard a patrol boat and passed master’s degrees in mathematics, sub-nuclear physics and economics. He was commissioned on 1 Sep 1995 and joined the Army and the Cavalry. He attended the lieutenant course at the Cavalry branch school in Saumur.

He was posted on 1 Sep 1996 to the 1st Regiment of Spahis in Valence. He served two years as reconnaissance platoon leader, took part in operation Almandin in the Central African Republic for five months and was awarded a commendation, with the Cross for Military Valor, for fighting the local rebels. He was promoted to captain on 1 Sep 1998, served one year as reconnaissance company 2IC and served in Bosnia for four months. He was eventually assigned to the regimental headquarters as staff officer “operations” and served within the United Nations Interim Force for five months as the French component chief logistics officer.

He attended the company commander course in 2000 and was posted to the 501st Tank Regiment in Mourmelon as Leclerc MBT company commander (2nd company) on 19 Jun 2000. In 2001, he deployed to Kosovo for five months at the head of his company.

After the Army Junior Staff College in 2003, he was assigned to the Cavalry Studies and Prospective directorate as staff officer in charge of the future organization of the branch. In Sep 2003, he competed for the Army Command and General Staff College and attended the course from Jan to Jul 2004. He was promoted to major on 1 Jul 2004. He attended the Joint Defense College from Sep 2004 to Jul 2005 and passed a master’s degree in history. He was posted to NATO SACT HQ in Norfolk, Virginia, USA on 16 Aug 2005. He was jointly chief planning and operations officer of NATO counter-IED integrated project team and ACT joint urban operations working group land subject matter expert, then drafted NATO asymmetric warfare concept, became ACT counter terrorism working group deputy leader and eventually a member of ACT NATO peace establishment review tiger team in the frame of France reintegration within the NATO command structure. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 Jul 2008.

Back to France on 16 Jul 2008, he was assigned to the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs in Verdun as chief of operations. He was deployed to Lebanon for four months in Oct 2008 as UNIFIL French Battle Group chief of operations. In Jun 2009, he became the ISAF Regional Command Capital HQ joint operations center director in Kabul, Afghanistan for 4 months and was awarded a 2nd commendation, with the National Defense Golden Medal. Eventually, he was deployed to Ivory Coast for 5 months in Feb 2010 as the French Battle Group chief of operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade HQ in Strasbourg on 1 Jul 2010 as the brigade chief of operations.

He deployed again to Afghanistan in Apr 2012 for eight months, as task force La Fayette deputy chief of staff for operations under the US 1st Infantry Division, where he transitioned Kapisa province and Surobi district to the Afghan National Security Forces and conducted task force La Fayette final retrograde operation. He was awarded his 3rd commendation, again with the Cross for Military Valor.

He took command of the 4th Regiment of Dragoons, in Marseille, on 12 Jul 2013. In the frame of a downsizing of the Army, he disbanded his regiment on 11 Jul 2014.

He was then assigned to the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps HQ in Gloucester, England on 21 Jul 2014 as the operations division director of staff. He was promoted to colonel on 1 Dec 2014.