Arbouzis graduated from the Hellenic Army Academy and participated as an officer of the Greek Army in the major conflicts of World War II in Greece: Greco-Italian War (1940–1941), Battle of Greece (1941), as well as the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). He is also notable as a commander of the Greek Expeditionary Force in Korea during the Korean War, as the first commander (as a colonel, in 1960) of the Hellenic Force in Cyprus, and as a commander of the Hellenic Army Academy (as a major general, in 1965–66). In 1967, at the time of the 21 April coup, he was Second Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, and was well known for his dedication to the constitutional order. On the day of the coup, he was arrested by the plotters and dismissed from the army by the new regime. He was recalled to active service, promoted to full general and installed as head of the armed forces after the fall of the junta in August 1974, and held the position until 1976. In 1977, he served for a month (21 October – 28 November) as Minister for Northern Greece under Konstantinos Karamanlis in the caretaker cabinet during the 1977 legislative elections.