John Coates (general)

Henry John Coates
File:John Coates DA-SC-90-07037.jpg Major General John Coates in 1985.
Born	(1932-12-28) 28 December 1932 Adelaide, South Australia
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	1953–1992
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Chief of the General Staff (1990–92) Royal Military College, Duntroon (1983–84) 3rd Cavalry Regiment (1971)
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Companion of the Order of Australia Member of the Order of the British Empire

Lieutenant General Henry John Coates AC, MBE, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , (born 28 December 1932) is a former senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1990 to 1992. Since retiring from the Army he has become an author and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy branch of the University of New South Wales, pursuing aspects of Australia's military history.

Early life

Coates was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 28 December 1932 to George Coates and his wife Gwenyth (née Begg). Educated at Ipswich Grammar School in Queensland, Coates graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon into the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in 1955.

Military career

Coates was granted his first regimental posting in 1956 to the 1st Armoured Regiment. He served with the unit until 1958, when he was promoted to captain and reassigned as adjutant of the 10th Light Horse Regiment for a period of two years. He secured a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia in 1962, before completing Honours at the Australian National University in 1965.

Coates was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and, as a major, was deployed to Vietnam, for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1971. He secured an Master of Arts from the Australian National University in 1975. He subsequently became Commanding Officer of his Regiment.

Coates was appointed Commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1983, moving on to be Head of the Defence Staff in Washington, D.C. in 1984; he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1987 in recognition of his service there.

Coates was made Assistant Chief Defence Force (Policy) in 1987 and appointed Chief of the General Staff in 1990; he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1992 in recognition of his service to the Australian Army, particularly in that role.

Retirement

In retirement he has written a number of books about the Australian Army and Australian military history more generally. These include:

• Suppressing insurgency: an analysis of the Malayan Emergency, 1948–1954 (1992)
• Review of the Ready Reserve scheme (co-authored with Hugh Smith, 1995)
• Bravery above blunder: the 9th Division at Finschhafen, Sattelberg and Sio (1999)
• The Australian centenary history of defence, co-editor (2001)
• An atlas of Australia's wars volume 7 of The Australian centenary history of defence (OUP, Melbourne, 2001)
• An atlas of Australia's wars, 2nd edition 2006.

He is also a Visiting Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales (UNSW@ADFA).

Further reading

• Bio of Major General John Coates, appearing at the end of Moral on the Battlefield, Defence Force Journal, No. 45, March/April 1984, p. 16
• Who's who in Australia 2007, p. 469–470.
• MBE – Major John Coates, Awards and Decorations – 3rd Cavalry Regiment, www.australian-armour.com

External links

• 1990 portrait by Heide Smith

Military offices
Preceded by Lieutenant General Lawrence O'Donnell	Chief of the General Staff 1990–1992	Succeeded by Lieutenant General John Grey