President Honours the Army Promoting 108 Officers on Historic Army Day

In an unprecedented move to coincide with the Army Day (Oct 10), HE the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, has promoted 108 officers to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on the recommendations of the Secretary Defence and the Commander of the Army, effective from today (10).

Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake, Commander of the Army, gracing this morning’s Army Day parade at the MoD grounds, broke the news saying that promotion of those 108 officers came as a special gift on the Army Day, following the initiatives taken by Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.

‘HE the President late last night informed me that the good news on promotions be conveyed to you all to coincide with the historic 65th Army Day, for which we are grateful to the President and the Secretary Defence. If those initiatives were not forthcoming, the entire process would have taken a little longer,’ the Commander quipped abruptly when he was addressing the troops at the military parade.

108 Majors promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, including 7 disable War Heroes, are accordingly permitted by the Commander to wear their new ranks, pending the publishing of the same in the government gazette.

Here is the list of those promoted officers with respective abbreviations of their medals, degrees and honours as well as specific Regiments: