Songkitti Jaggabatara


General Songkitti Jaggabatara was the Chief of Defence Forces, Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters from October 1, 2008 until his retirement from active service on October 1, 2011.

Military life

General Songkitti was educated in many schools in various parts of Thailand before attending the
Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School Class 10 as a pre-cadet in 1967 as a prerequisite for attending Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. In 1977 he graduated from CRMA as a cavalry officer. In the early years of his service, he fought in the war, in north of Thailand, with communist insurgency who had begun the low intensity armed struggle in the South, North and Northeast Thailand. He also served on the Thailand-Cambodian border during 1982 when the border situation there was very tense after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978. In 2003, he commanded the 4th Army Area for 6 months and became Superintendent of CRMA. Before he was appointed Chief of Defence Forces, he was Chief of Joint Staff, RTARF.
In April 2009, he was appointed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as the Director of Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation with mandate to peacefully resolve political unrest by National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, also known as "Red Shirt" movement, a political pressure group supporting Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok during April 2009.

Peacekeeping Mission in East Timor

General Songkitti came to international fame in 1999 when, as a Major General, he led the Thai Joint Task Force 972 Thai/East Timor as a military contingent from Thailand contributed to the International Force for East Timor. He was, concurrently, second in command of INTERFET while Major General Peter Cosgrove, from Australia, was the commander. In 2000, he was awarded Honorary Member (AM) in the Order of Australia in the Military Division and the INTERFET MEDAL for his exceptional service to the INTERFET.
Later in November 2002, he accepted the invitation from University of Melbourne, Australia to share his views from the operations in the seminar on The Rule of Law on Peace Operations.

Personal life

General Songkitti Jaggabatara is married with two adult daughters and one teenage son. He lives in Bangkok.

Honours

Royal decorations

Foreign honours