In 2018, Brigadier Blain had the great honour of assuming regimental appointments as the Head of Corps of the Royal Australian Infantry and Regimental Colonel of the Royal Australian Regiment. He is also a director on the board of the Royal Australian Regiment Foundation and has a strong interest in the wellbeing and resilience of serving members and veterans.
He was born in Mossman, North Queensland, and completed his schooling in Ingham. After attaining a Bachelor of Arts he attended the Royal Military College Duntroon, graduating into the Royal Australian Infantry Corps in 1991.
During his career, Brigadier Blain has served in a wide range of regimental and staff appointments including three years as a career adviser in the Directorate of Officer Career Management–Army, for which he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross .
As an Infantry officer he has commanded at all levels within the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) and was privileged to be the Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion from 2008 to 2009.
Brigadier Blain’s operational experience includes company command in East Timor, and service in Afghanistan. During 2007 he served as an operations officer in the Headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. From January to June 2010 he commanded Mentoring Task Force One (MTF-1) in Uruzgan Province. In recognition of sustained outstanding service by the men and women of MTF-1 during an intensive operational tour the task force was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation. From July to October 2010 he served as the inaugural Deputy Commander of Combined Team Uruzgan. For his 2010 service in Afghanistan Brigadier Blain was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Following on from his operational experience and on promotion to Colonel in 2011, he was tasked with establishing ‘Diggerworks’ within the Defence Materiel Organisation. The role of Diggerworks was to design, test and deliver improved and integrated combat equipment for our deployed men and women.
In 2013 he was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as the Senior Adviser for Defence Policy and Operations. He was posted to Army Headquarters in 2014 as the Director of Military Commitments where he was responsible for Army’s support to operations and preparedness requirements.
In 2015 Brigadier Blain attended the Defence and Strategic Studies Course in Canberra and on promotion to Brigadier in 2016, he was appointed as the inaugural Director General of the Force Options and Plans Branch in Defence’s new Force Design Division. In this role he is responsible for identifying capability and joint force structure requirements and designing the future force through the conduct of evidence-based analysis and assessment.
Brigadier Blain holds a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Management and is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff Course (2003), the Australian Institute of Company Directors (2012), the Indian Army Higher Defence Orientation Course (2014), and the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies (2015).
He is married to Susan and they have a daughter attending university and a son in high school. He enjoys military history, cricket, rugby league, and working on his fishing skills.
The RAR Association welcomes Brigadier Blain to his appointments and wishes him continued success.
DUTY FIRST
