The Commander of the Army () is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current Commander of the Army is Lieutenant General Lasantha Rodrigo. The post's precursor was known as Commander of the Ceylon Defence Force. Serving army commanders have by convention been of the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, promoted to the rank of

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

on the day of their retirement or after getting the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff which post is now obsolete. Sepala Attygalle was the first army commander who was promoted to full general on the day of his retirement in 1977. Tissa Weeratunga was the second commander to be promoted to the rank of full general on the day of his retirement in 1985 (after serving as the general officer commanding of the joint operations command). Sarath Fonseka, Jagath Jayasuriya and Shavendra Silva were elevated to the rank of

while serving as Commander. Denis Perera and Nalin Seneviratne were promoted to full general in 2007 after 26 years and 19 years of retirement respectively. The official residence of the commander is General's House, Colombo.

List of officeholders

''From Hamilton Wanasinghe (appointed in 1988) customarily all army commanders are lieutenant generals and were later promoted to full general on the day of their retirement or after becoming the g.o.c. of the joint operations command which was later known as chief of defence staff.''

References

External links

Former Army commandersThree Service Commanders promoted
{{Chief of the army by country * Sri Lanka Army Sri Lanka Army appointments

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Lists of Sri Lankan military personnel