John Caligari

Major General John Graham Caligari, is a senior officer of the Australian Army. His current appointment is Head Capability Systems, (in Capability Development Group). He was previously Head Modernisation and Strategic Plans – Army (HMSP-A).

Early life
Caligari was born in Brisbane in 1960. He was educated at Marist College Canberra, and entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1979 where he undertook training to become an officer in the Australian Army.

Military career
Upon graduating from Duntroon in 1982, Caligari was assigned to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and was posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR), an infantry unit that his father, Barry Caligari, was commanding at the time.

In 1989, Caligari was in the Middle East as a United Nations observer on the Lebanese/Israeli border with UNTSO, and subsequently at at UNTSO Headquarters in Jerusalem (Operation Paladin). He took his wife, Narelle, a nurse, and his twin sons, then aged nine months, with him to Israel. From late 1990, he was a rifle company commander in the 1st Battalion. In 1993 he was an operations officer of the 1st Battalion Group deployed to Somalia as part of Operation Solace, for which he was awarded a Chief of the Defence Force Commendation. In June 2000, he deployed as Commander of the 1st Battalion Ready Group on HMAS Manoora for the evacuation of Australians from the Solomon Islands (Operation Plumbob).

He was deployed to East Timor after it achieved independence in 1999. "The highlight of his career" was commanding the 1st Battalion Group on operations along the Timor Leste-Indonesian border with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), as part of Operation Tanager. For his command and leadership on this operation he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Caligari oversaw numerous reforms while Chief of Staff, Headquarters Training Command – Army (TC-A) in 2005–06, under Major General Richard Wilson.

In 2007–08 Caligari commanded the Townsville-based 3rd Brigade, as a brigadier. In January 2009 he was appointed Deputy Commander, Joint Task Force 633 – Afghanistan, as part of Operation Slipper, a position he filled for six months.

He was promoted to major general in mid-2009, and appointed Head Modernisation and Strategic Plans – Army (HMSP-A). In 2012 Caligari was appointed Head Capability Systems (HCS), heading up one of Capability Development Group's two divisions.

Personal life
His father, Barry, retired as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion in 1983. Caligari and his father hold the distinction of being the only father-son duo in the Australian Army to have commanded the same battalion. Caligari's father was his son's commanding officer for two months when he graduated from Duntroon in 1982.

He married Narelle, a nurse, circa 1987 and they have three children; twin sons and a girl. Caligari's twin sons Ben and David, were inducted into the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2008 and have subsequently graduated from the Royal Military College. His daughter, Anne, is reading for a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Canberra.

Educational and professional qualifications

 * 1982 – Bachelor of Arts, University of New South Wales, Royal Military College, Duntroon
 * 1998 – Master of Defence Studies, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy
 * 1999 – Chief of Army’s Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University
 * 2004 – Master of Arts (Strategic Studies), Deakin University
 * Graduate, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth
 * Graduate, CDSS (Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Australian Defence College, Canberra)
 * Graduate, Joint/Combined Land Component Commanders Course, US Army War College, Carlisle
 * Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors, having served as Chairman of the Army Credit Union and a member of the Board of Frontline Defence Services
 * 2006 – Completed the Harvard Australia Leadership Program