Brigadier General Herbert Sailer
graduated from the Austrian Military Academy of Wiener Neustadt in 1998 as an infantry officer. In his first positions, he had various commanding and staff officer positions at regimental level in the Guards Battalion in Vienna. During these assignments, he had also the possibility to familiarize with the increasingly emerging peace support operations in Austria at that time.
In 2006 he graduated from the National Defence Academy in Vienna as a general staff officer and he holds an academic degree for the Individual Diploma Programme National Defence – Executive Management of the University of Vienna.
As a general staff officer he gained experience in the field of intelligence and reconnaissance during various assignments at the Austrian Armed Forces Security Agency and he served a tour in the Western Balkans as Head G2 Branch of the Multinational Task Force South of KFOR.
In 2010 he was appointed as Military Counsellor at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. He gained invaluable experience in the field of Common Security and Defence Policy, especially in the field of rapid deployment capabilities and EU’s financing mechanisms. During his time in Belgium he found interest in the European Security and Defence Colleague, first as a student and later as an military expert, as a complementation of the national training efforts in the context of Common Foreign and Security Policy as well as Common Security and Defence Policy.
From 2013 onwards, back home in Austria, he gained additional experience at the operational level while being appointed as the deputy head of the Planning Division (J5) of the Austrian Joint Forces Command in Graz.
Between 2017 and 2018 he held the position of battalion commander of the 7th Reconnaissance and Artillery Battalion in Feldbach in south eastern part of Styria. After being promoted to Colonel in 2018, he was assigned to the Ministry of Defence in Vienna, where he served as Deputy Head of Division within the Defence Staff, and provided direct support and advice to the Austrian Chief of General Staff. Between 2020 and 2021, he was a member of the Cabinet of the Austrian Minister of Defence.
Following his promotion to Brigadier General in February 2021, he was appointed as the Head of the Current Operations Division at the Austrian Armed Joint Forces Command. In this role, he was responsible for all military missions and operations at home as well as abroad. In addition to the Austrian contribution in the Western Balkans, he was also able to gather relevant experience of the Austrian Armed Forces engagement as well as the multinational environment of the Austrian missions, spreading Africa across the Middle to the Near East. Besides his mother tongue German, he speaks English and French.
His awards and decorations include Non-Article 5 Medal related to NATO Operations in the Western Balkans, the Austria Military Commemorative Service Medal 3rd, 2nd, 1st class as well as Service Medals for Security Assistance and Assistance Operations as well as the COVID-19 Commemorative Service Medal.
He was appointed as COS EUFOR on 15 May 2024.
Brigadier General Herbert SAILER was born in 1975, in Graz, Styria. He is married and has two daughters.