The Chief of the Staff of the French Army (French: Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée de Terre, CEMAT) is the professional head of the French Army. The current Chief of Staff of the French Army has been General Bertrand Ract-Madoux since September, 1st 2011. The CEMAT title has been in use since 1962; prior to that the position for the general in charge of France's land forces was referred to as Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée. The modern form of a general staff for the French Army emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with Louis Alexandre Berthier being Chief-of-Staff for the Grand État-Major Général (Army General Headquarters) of Napoleon's Grand Armée.
Famous quotes containing the words chief of, chief, staff, french and/or army:
“Your real statesman is first of all, and chief of all, a great human being, with an eye for all the great fields on which men like himself struggle, with unflagging, pathetic hope, toward better things.... He is a guide, a counselor, a mentor, a servant, a friend of mankind.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“God protect us from the efficient, go-getter businesswoman whose feminine instincts have been completely sterilized. Wherever women are functioning, whether in the home or in a job, they must remember that their chief function as women is a capacity for warm, understanding and charitable human relationships.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“... all my letters are read. I like that. I usually put something in there that I would like the staff to see. If some of the staff are lazy and choose not to read the mail, I usually write on the envelope “Legal Mail.” This way it will surely be read. It’s important that we educate everybody as we go along.”
—Jean Gump, U.S. pacifist. As quoted in The Great Divide, book 2, section 10, by Studs Terkel (1988)
“I don’t see what for French Canadians to go to defend a bunch of Poles. I don’t get that at all. I don’t see what they mean to us. And they all one kind government much same like the other.”
—Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)
“Roach, foulest of creatures,
who attacks with yellow teeth
and an army of cousins big as shoes ...”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)