Major General R.R. (Rhys) Jones
Major General Richard Rhys Jones was born in Timaru, New Zealand on 2 May 1960. He was educated at Wanganui Boy’s College and attained University Entrance.
Major General Jones enlisted into the New Zealand Army in December 1978 and attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon Australia from 1979 to 1982. He graduated into the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps at the rank of Lieutenant in December 1982, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. During his career he has attended staff college at Fort Leavenworth, USA, and higher defence college at the Australian Defence College. He has also attained a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from La Trobe University (Melbourne) as well as a Diploma in Qualitative Futures.
His staff appointments have been mainly within the Capability Development area, culminating in his appointment as the head of the NZDF Development Branch.
Major General Jones has held a variety of training posts. In 1987/88 he was the New Zealand Instructor at the Australian Defence Force Academy (Officer Cadets). From 1992 to 1995 he was an instructor at New Zealand’s Tactical School, becoming the Chief Instructor for his last 18 months. He has also been Chief Instructor at the School of Armour and has been the New Zealand Directing Staff at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, part of the Australian Defence College.
Major General Jones has had operational duty in the Middle East with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation, as an observer, then Operations Officer with the Observer Group Lebanon.
Major General Jones has commanded at every senior level. He was the Commanding Officer of New Zealand’s armoured regiment; Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles (QAMR), and at Formation level the Commander 3rd Land Force Group based in the South Island of New Zealand. He was Land Component Commander within Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand, and then in October 2007 Major General Jones became the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand on promotion to Major General. He was appointed the Chief of Army on 1 May 2009.
Major General Jones is married to Debbie and they have three children. His hobbies include reading history, war gaming and black powder shooting.