General Raimundas Vaiksnoras

Chief of Defence of the Republic of Lithuania Lithuanian Armed Forces

General Raimundas Vaikšnoras was born on 12 July 1970 in Druskininkai. He started his military career on 28 February 1991 when he was assigned as an intelligence specialist to the Training Unit of the National Defence Department of Lithuania. He took the serviceman's oath on 11 March 1991. During his military service the General followed the path of a soldier, a sergeant and an officer. He started from the position of rifleman, then as NCO he was a section and platoon commander, later began his career as an officer.

General Raimundas Vaikšnoras graduated from Platoon and Company Commander Courses in Denmark, Staff Officer Courses in Germany, Lithuania and Sweden, Joint Command and General Staff Officer Course in the Baltic Defence College, Estonia, as well as the Strategic Defence Studies at the United States Army War College. During his military service in the Lithuanian Armed Forces R. Vaikšnoras served as the Platoon and Company Commander of the Motorized Infantry troops, he was the Commander of two battalions in Rukla and Vilnius, and the Commander of the Mechanized Infantry Brigade “Iron Wolf”. In his military service, he also took the positions of staff officer and chief officer of combat training, defence planning and operations control. Once he was deployed to serve in a mission headquarters in Afghanistan. During his senior staff officer's career, the General was responsible for capability development and operations in the Land Force Headquarters, Joint Staff and Defence Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. General R. Vaikšnoras' decorations include the Commemorative Badge to Mark Russian Troops Withdrawal from Lithuania, Medal of the Founding Volunteers of the Lithuanian Army, Honor Badge “Iron Wolf”, National Defence System of the Republic of Lithuania Medal for Deployment on International Missions, Lithuanian Armed Forces and Land Forces Medals for Distinguished Service, Lithuanian Armed Forces Medal of Merit (with Bronze Pillars) and other awards. Gen R. Vaikšnoras is a member of the Union of Founding Volunteers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.