Benjamin Gray

Colonel Benjamin Gray is a General Service Officer with a variety of skills; specialising in synchronising joint effects, military instruction, and operational planning. He assumed his current appointment as Director of Training Futures in January 2025.

COL Gray enlisted into the Australian Army and attended the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in January 2000, graduating from the Royal Military College to the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery in December 2003. His first posting was to the 8^th/12^th Medium Regiment in Darwin, where he fulfilled the roles of Troop Commander, Signals Officer, Platoon Commander (Rifle Company Butterworth), and Joint Fires Team Commander.

COL Gray was then posted to the 16^th Field Battery in Tasmania as the Executive Officer in 2008 and 2009. 2010 and 2011 saw COL Gray posted to ADFA as a Divisional Officer, and in 2012, he was posted back to the 8^th/12^th Regiment, RAA, as the Adjutant. In December 2012, COL Gray was promoted to Major and appointed as Battery Commander of the 103^rd Battery commencing in 2013 and as the Operations Officer of the 8^th/12^th Regiment in 2014. 

In 2015 COL Gray attended the Australian Command and Staff College. Upon graduation, he was posted to the School of Armour as the Senior Instructor of Combat Command Wing for 2016-2017. In December 2017 he was promoted to LTCOL and posted to Headquarters Joint Operations Command as the Deputy Director Joint Effects – Plans. In 
2020-2021, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the School of Artillery, 2022-2023 he was the lead for raising and activating the 10^th Brigade (Fires Formation), and in 2024 he was the Chief of Army’s Scholar. In December 2024, he was promoted to his current rank, and in 2025, assumed the role of G78 - Director of Training Futures in Headquarters Forces Command.

COL Gray has significant experience in multi-national and international engagement, having participated in military activities in Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Mongolia, and the United States. LTCOL Gray has accrued diverse operational experience throughout his career with deployments on Operation ANODE II (Solomon Islands) in 2006 as the Combat Team Patrol Master and Intelligence Officer, Operation SLIPPER (Afghanistan) as the Battle Captain of ISAF Special Operations Forces HQ in Kabul in 2011-2012, and Operation ASLAN (South Sudan), the Australian contribution to the UN Mission, as the Chief of Staff of the Sector Juba (Regional Protection Force - UN Multinational Brigade) in 2019.

COL Gray holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History and Politics, a Master of Arts in Strategy and Security, and a Master of Arts in Military Ethics and Future War from the University of New South Wales. He also holds a Master of Military and Defence Studies from the Australian National University and is a graduate of the Centre for Defence Research Apollo Course on Future War Analysis.

COL Gray has been recognised twice for his performance with the awarding of a Deputy Chief of Joint Operations Commendation for service in the Solomon Islands and the Force Commanders Commendation for meritorious and valuable service while assigned to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.

COL Gray is married to Sally, who is a primary school teacher, and they are the proud parents of two children, Maxwell (8) and Olivia (4).