Chief of the Defence Staff
What was the position of John de Chastelain between Oct 1992 and Dec 1992?
John de Chastelain Alfred John Gardyne Drummond de Chastelain ( born 30 July 1937 ) is a British-Canadian retired army officer and diplomat . De Chastelain was born in Romania to Scottish and American parents and was educated in England and Scotland before his family emigrated to Canada in 1954 . There , de Chastelain became a Militia private and enrolled in the Royal Military College of Canada , going on to pursue a career in the Canadian Army . He was commissioned into Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry and rose eventually to be twice Chief of the Defence Staff , with a break of a year during which he served as Canadas ambassador to the United States . In 1995 , de Chastelain became active in the Northern Ireland peace process and eventually focused on the disarmament of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland . Early life and education . De Chastelain was born in 1937 in Bucharest , Romania , to Alfred Gardyne de Chastelain , a Scottish oil engineer then working in Bucharest for British Petroleum , ( later an agent of SOE ) and Marion Elizabeth de Chastelain , an American . He was educated in England and later at Fettes College , Edinburgh . The de Chastelain family emigrated to Canada in 1954 , and a year later , after finishing his education at Fettes College , De Chastelain joined his family and attended Mount Royal College ( now Mount Royal University ) in Calgary . He married Mary Ann Laverty . Military . De Chastelain started his military career as a Militia private in the Calgary Highlanders in which he served from January to September 1956 . He was enrolled in the Royal Military College of Canada in September 1956 and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a commission in Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry ( PPCLI ) , two years before he became a naturalized Canadian . Performing regimental duty in Canada , Germany , and Cyprus , de Chastelain subsequently attended the British Army staff college in Camberley in 1966 and was commanding officer of the Second Battalion PPCLI from 1970 to 1972 . As a colonel , he commanded CFB Montreal for a two-year period ending with the 1976 Summer Olympics in that city . He was also Deputy Chief of Staff of the United Nations Force in Cyprus ( UNFICYP ) and Commander of the Canadian contingent there . As a brigadier-general , he successively became Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada in 1977 , Commander of 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Lahr , Germany in 1980 and Director General Land Doctrine and Operations at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa , Ontario in 1982 . As a major-general , de Chastelain was Deputy Commander of the Canadian Army ( then called Mobile Command ) and Commander of the Mobile Command Division , which was exercised as such in 1985 on Exercise RV 85 . As a lieutenant-general , he became Assistant Deputy Minister for Personnel in 1986 and then Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff in 1988 . In 1989 , he was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Chief of the Defence Staff . In 1993 , he transferred to the Reserves and was appointed Ambassador to the United States by Brian Mulroney . In 1994 , shortly after the election of Jean Chrétien , he was recalled to Regular Force duty and re-appointed Chief of the Defence Staff , replacing Admiral Anderson and vacating the office of Ambassador for Raymond Chrétien . de Chastelain served as Chief of Defence Staff until his retirement in December 1995 . Civilian . Since November 1995 , de Chastelain has been involved in the Northern Ireland peace process and from 1997 to 2011 he was Chairman of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning , which was responsible for ensuring the decommissioning of arms by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland . He has made an impact on the way that Britain has viewed the IRA since the decommissioning has begun . As part of the Good Friday Agreement an independent neutral adjudicator was selected to look over the disarmament of Republican and Loyalist paramilitary weapons in Northern Ireland . Honours . In 1985 , de Chastelain was appointed Commander of the Order of Military Merit and in 1991 , Commander of the Order of St John ; in 1993 , he received the Commendation Medal of Merit and Honour of Greece , and was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada ; in 1995 , he was appointed Commander of the Legion of Merit ( U.S.A. ) ; in 1999 , he was made a Companion of Honour ; and in 2014 , he was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada . Archie Cairns composed a jig for bagpipes in his honour in 1992 . He has an honorary Doctor of Military Science degree from the Royal Military College of Canada , an honorary Doctor of Laws ( Conflict Resolution ) degree from Royal Roads University in British Columbia , an honorary Doctor of Education degree from Nipissing University , an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Carleton University , an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Queens University , Kingston , an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from Saint Marys University , Halifax , an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brock University , an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Concordia University , an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Mount Allison University and a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Edinburgh . He is also an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall , Oxford . De Chastelain was a recipient of the Vimy Award in 1992 . External links . - IRA arms decommissioned