Gordana Garašić

Garašić joined the Croatian Ministry of Defence in 1995 after graduating from law school.^[1][2] She had intended to join the Ministry of the Interior but reported to the defence ministry by mistake and was appointed as a senior counsellor in the Human Resources department.^[1] The country was at that time fighting the Croatian War of Independence.^[1] Garašić has served as an adviser to the Croatian delegations to NATO and the European Union and as a defence adviser to the president of Croatia.^[3] Garašić was posted to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for six months in 2010 as head of personal affairs in Regional Command North.^[2] She also studied at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in the United States.^[1] Garašić was promoted to the rank of colonel in 2011.^[2]

On 1 April 2014 Garašić was promoted to the temporary rank of major general prior to her posting as adviser for gender issues to ISAF.^[2] She became the first Croatian woman to hold general rank.^[2] In Afghanistan Garašić oversaw the introduction of an all-female facility for the Afghan National Police's elite Crisis Response Units.^[4] Her contribution to the integration of women into the police force was recognised in December 2014 when the Afghan government awarded her a medal for achievement.^[3] Garašić was appointed to the permanent rank of brigadier general in 2015 and is currently Deputy Director of RACVIAC, an international security co-operation mission based in Croatia.^[1]