| Chief of Staff | |
|---|---|
 Flag of the Guyana Defence Force | |
 Brigadier Omar Khan since 28 April 2023 | |
| Reports to | President of Guyana |
| Formation | May 1967 |
| First holder | Ronald Pope |
The Chief of Staff is the professional head of the Guyana Defence Force. He is responsible for the administration and the operational control of the military of Guyana. The current Chief of Staff is Brigadier Omar Khan.
| No. | Portrait | Name (birth–death) | Term of office | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| 1 | Colonel Ronald Pope | May 1967 | March 1969 | 1 year, 10 months | [1] | |
| 2 | Brigadier Clarence Price (1922–?) | March 1969 | 12 July 1979 | 10 years, 4 months | [2] | |
| 3 | Major general Norman Gordon Mc Lean (born 1935) | 12 July 1979 | March 1990 | 10 years, 7 months | [3] | |
| 4 |  | Major general Joseph Singh (born 1945) | March 1990 | April 2000 | 10 years, 1 month | [4] |
| 5 | Major general Michael Atherly (born 1949) | April 2000 | 31 May 2004 | 4 years, 1 month | [5] [6] | |
| 6 | Major general Edward Orin Collins (born 1945) | 31 May 2004 | 2007 | 2–3 years | [7] | |
| 7 |  | Rear admiral Gary Best (born 1959) | September 2007 | 16 September 2013 | 6 years | [8] |
| 8 |  | Brigadier Mark Phillips (born 1961) | 16 September 2013 | 3 October 2016 | 3 years, 17 days | [9] |
| 9 | Brigadier George Lewis (born 1961) | 3 October 2016 | 10 January 2017 | 99 days | [10] [11] | |
| 10 |  | Brigadier Patrick West (born 1965) | 10 January 2017 | 1 July 2020 | 3 years, 173 days | [12] [13] |
| 11 |  | Brigadier Godfrey Bess (born 1968) | 1 July 2020 | 4 March 2021 | 246 days | [14] [15] |
| 4 March 2021 | 28 April 2023 | 2 years, 55 days | ||||
| 12 |  | Brigadier Omar Khan | 28 April 2023 | Incumbent | 321 days | [16] |
Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier or brigadier general and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.
A lieutenant is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
Lieutenant general is a military rank used in many countries. The rank originates from the Old European System. 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 normally subordinate to a captain general.
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The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is the military of Guyana, established in 1965. It has military bases across the nation. The Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force is always the incumbent President of Guyana.
David Arthur Granger is a Guyanese former politician and retired military officer who served as the ninth president of Guyana from 2015 to 2020. A member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), he previously served as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and as National Security Adviser from 1990 to 1992. He was leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Guyana from 2012 to 2015.
The Australian Defence Force's (ADF) ranks of officers and enlisted personnel in each of its three service branches of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) inherited their rank structures from their British counterparts. The insignia used to identify these ranks are also generally similar to those used in the British Armed Forces.
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain.
Lieutenant General Vusumuzi Masondo is a South African military commander.
Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a lieutenant general outranking a major general, whereas a major outranks a lieutenant.
Lieutenant General John Sinvula Mutwa was a Namibian military officer whose last appointment was as chief of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF). He was appointed the commander of the Namibian Army in 2011, and NDF Chief on 31 December 2013, a position from which he retired on 31 March 2020.
Rank comparison chart of all armies and land forces of North and South American states.
Rank comparison chart of armies/land forces of Commonwealth of Nations states.
Mark Anthony Phillips is a Guyanese politician and retired military officer who is the prime minister of Guyana and first vice president under President Irfaan Ali since August 2020. He served as the chief of staff of the Guyana Defence Force from 2013 to 2016. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 1981.
