Angus Campbell, the gaunt senior soldier handed the politically-charged job of stopping asylum-seeker boats, is about to take charge of the nation's army.
In what's been billed a reward for performing an arduous task well, the lieutenant-general will take over from the highly-regarded David Morrison in mid-May.
But he won't be promoted, having already achieved the rank for an army chief when appointed by the government to run Operation Sovereign Borders in September 2013.
The appointment did not surprise military or political observers who see General Campbell's appointment as a reward for "stopping the boats", one of the Abbott government's few major achievement. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the general had done exceptional work in a difficult job that involved overseeing the government's hardline approach to illegal maritime arrivals.
In some cases, that involved offloading asylum seekers from rickety fishing boats, loading them into specially-purchased maritime lifeboats and towing them back to Indonesian waters.
General Campbell was also required to front the media, alongside then immigration minister Scott Morrison, to say virtually nothing because of a policy of not commenting on on-water operations.
In the 34 years he has been in the army the general served with the Special Air Service Regiment, commanded an infantry battalion in East Timor and commanded Australian forces in the Middle East.
More recently, he served as deputy national security adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He takes over from Lieutenant General Morrison, appointed army chief in mid-2011 with his three-year term extended at the request of Mr Abbott.
General Morrison attracted global attention in 2013 with a blunt warning to his troops about the place of women in the army and a no-tolerance approach to degrading behaviour towards them.
"If that does not suit you, then get out," he famously said at the time.
Mr Abbott described General Morrison as a soldier's soldier.
"He's also been a modern soldier's soldier who has very much wanted the army to move into the modern world," he said.
Mr Abbott declined to say who will head-up Operation Sovereign Borders and whether it would return to civilian hands.
The operation is likely to be absorbed into the new Australian Border Force.
Mr Abbott also named Air Marshal Gavin Davies as the new chief of the air force.
He steps up from deputy chief having been a former F-111 pilot with service in the Middle East and as air attache in Washington.
He takes over the top RAAF job on July 4.
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