Major General (retired) Panagiotis Gartzonikas
Major General (retired) Panagiotis Gartzonikas has commanded at every army level from platoon to division. A graduate of the Military Academy he served as an Armor officer in a variety of leadership assignments. At formation level he commanded the 20th Armor Division and 88th Infantry Brigade of Lemnos island. Key staff appointments include Director of the Army General Staff Plans and Policy Branch (G5) and Deputy Director of the Army General Staff Operations Branch (G3).
He has worked in international organizations leading multinational and multicultural teams in developing countries in Middle East and Central Asia for both EU and NATO. As European Union Long Term Observer for the first Palestinian elections in 1995, he deployed to the West Bank and Gaza participating in the first EU operation abroad. He also spent three years in NATO as Planning Team Leader at the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) G5 Plans. In that capacity he deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and served an eight month-tour at HQ ISAF. As ARRC G5 Plans Team Leader he actively participated in planning and conduct of staff rides in Arnhem, Salerno, Anzio, Monte Cassino, Ardennes and Normandy.
Overall, in his career he got four Chief of the Army General Staff Citations, the second highest award in peacetime for professional excellence.
In terms of professional military education, he graduated from both the Command and General Staff College and National Defence College courses and he attended the Company Commanders Course in Panzerschule (Armor School), Germany. From the academic side he earned a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Studies and a Master of Science degree in Defense Analysis from the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is currently completing his Doctorate degree (PhD) from the National University of Athens.
He has taught Strategy at the Military Academy and he is since 2014 a lecturer at the National Defence College. Moreover he is the editor of the STRATEGIKON e-journal found at https://strategikon.gr (in Greek, abstracts in English).
Major General (retired) Stavros Koutris
Major General (retired) Stavros Koutris, a graduate of “Evelpidon” Military Academy, Class ’78, has served as an officer in several Infantry and Special Forces units and has commanded all army levels from platoon to division. As a staff officer has served to several Staffs from Corps level to the Ministry of National Defence. He was appointed to PJHQ, Northwood UK, as Greek liaison officer during the first British commanding tour of ISAF in Kabul Afghanistan and as a military advisor to Hellenic Delegation to the OSCE, Vienna.
His senior assignments were Director G3/Hellenic Army General Staff, Commander of “Evelpidon” Military Academy and Commander of 98th Infantry Division of Lesvos island.
During his career as a staff officer, he was involved in National Defence Planning and conducted three main studies as chief executive officer: Special Forces for the ARMY 2010 (1999), Transformation and Reorganisation of the Hellenic Army (2006) and Restructuring the Education and Training of Army Officer (2010).
He graduated from several infantry and special forces schools in Greece, US and NATO and he was an active paratrooper and underwater demolition team member. He is a graduate of the Supreme War College, Thessaloniki Greece and NATO Defence College, Rome.
He was awarded an MSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Essex, UK and a Diploma in Strategy and International Relations from the CENTRE D’ ΈTUDE DIPLOMATIQUES ET STRATΈGIQUES (CEDS), Greece.
He is an external fellow at the Hellenic National Defence College.