Major General Michael O’Brien, CSC, MDA, BSc

Mike graduated from Australia’s Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1968 into the Royal Australian Infantry and served as a platoon commander and intelligence officer in the Vietnam War. He later wrote the history of his battalion (Conscripts and Regulars: with the Seventh Battalion in Vietnam 1967-68 and 1970-71) that was published in 1995 and short-listed for a British military history prize. His extensive military career included regimental, staff training, equipment acquisition engineering and logistics postings culminating in his appointment as Support Commander-Army. He was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross for services to Defence procurement. Before retiring from full-time service was to review the Australian Army’s wider use of history. He is a graduate of the Australian Command & Staff College, Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies, Royal Military College of Science (UK), University of New South Wales and Cranfield University (UK) and was a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s National Graduate School of Management.

He runs his own antiquarian book business in Melbourne and writes local history. He recently supervised an Australian government undertaking (as a serving Army Reservist) to co-ordinate the recovery and identification of more than one hundred Australian soldiers killed in action at the Battle of Fromelles, France, during the First World War. He is President of the Royal United Services Institute of Victoria. He is an experienced director and Chairman: he had been a director and Chair of the Defence Force Credit Union (now Defence Bank) for over 20 years and has also chaird a Stock Exchange-listed company. He is married to Margaret and has two adult children.