Biography

Command Sergeant Major Danijel Kovač was born on 14 August 1972 in Maribor, Slovenia.

He was drafted into the Slovenian Armed Forces (then Territorial Defence) in 1993 as a conscript. He was enlisted in 1994 as member of the 1st Special Forces Brigade MORiS. After completing the basic training, he was assigned to the specialized reconnaissance unit.

Further down his career, Command Sergeant Major Kovač held various positions in Infantry as Squad Leader (10th International Cooperation Battalion, 1997-2001), Platoon Sergeant (Reconnaissance Platoon/10th Motorised Battalion, 2001-2004), 1st Sergeant (Infantry Company), Command Sergeant Major (Infantry Battalion), Command Sergeant Major (Infantry Brigade) and Command Senior Enlisted Leader (Military Schools Centre, 2017-2019). Currently, he holds the position of Command Senior Enlisted Leader of the Slovenian Armed Forces.

He is a graduate of the US Army Basic Noncommissioned Officers Course (Ft. Benning 2000), Ranger School (Ft. Benning 2002, class 06-02), Battle Staff Noncommissioned Officers Course S-2 & S-3 Staff functions (USAJFKSWCS 2003), Defence Language Institute (Lackland AFB San Antonio 2011), United States Sergeant Major Academy (USASMA Ft. Bliss 2012). He participated in several US military training exercises to include the Peace Keeping Operations (PKO) Exercise at Fort Polk (Cooperative Nugget 1997), Peacekeeping Operations Military Police Course (Vienna Training Centre 1996), NATO CIMIC Field Worker Course (Maribor, 2014), NATO Command Senior Enlisted Course (Oberammergau, 2017).

He is a graduate of the following Slovenian Armed Forces courses: the Basic NCO School, Platoon Sergeant Course, Advanced NCO Course, Leadership Course, Instructor for the Remote Weapon Station (RWS) Kongsberg course (Patria, Finland 2008), Airborne Course, Basic and Advanced Mountaineering Course, Basic and Advanced EOD Course, etc.

He has been deployed in Cyprus (UN mission in Cyprus UNFICYP, 1998, 1999), Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR 2004), Afghanistan (ISAF, member of the Slovenian Reconnaissance team attached to the Canadian Reconnaissance Squadron – The Royal Canadian Dragoons, 2005), Kosovo (KFOR, 2007 and 2015 as Slovenian Contingent Command Senior Enlisted Leader).

His awards and decorations include several Slovenian awards and decorations and foreign medals, as follows: NATO Non Article 5 Medal (SFOR, KFOR, and ISAF), Canadian General Campaign Star Medal (ISAF), and UN Medal (UNFICYP). In 2019 inducted into the NCO Leadership Center of Excellence and USASMA International Student Hall of Fame. 

He holds Master Degree of Organization and Management of Social Activities.

He is married to Sandra, has two sons, Tian and Jakob and lives in Bistrica ob Dravi, Slovenia.