Colonel Verlič was born on 7 November 1971 in Kranj, Slovenia.
In 1990, he was drafted into the Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA), where he served until the summer 1991. At the beginning of Slovenia’s War for independence, he left the YPA to join the Territorial Defense of the Republic of Slovenia.
From 1991 to 1994, he studied business at the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana.
After graduation he was selected to join the 3rd generation of the Officer Candidate School of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF).
In 1995, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and took over his first assignment as platoon leader in the 2nd Air Defence Platoon/ 4th Battery/Training Regiment/9th Air Defence Brigade.
In 1997, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant and took over as Executive Officer at the same Air Defence Battery.
In 1998, he was sent to the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Basic Course at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Shortly after his return from the U.S., he was reassigned to serve as Executive Officer of the light infantry, Infantry Training Company.
From 1999 to 2001, he served as commander of the Infantry Training Company and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2001.
In 2001, he worked for the S1/S3 in the Maintenance Regiment.
In 2002, he was sent to the Logistics Captains Career Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, where he graduated with honours.
In 2004, he served as staff officer in the J1/J7 branch at the SAF General Staff.
In 2006, he attended the U.S Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth Kansas, where he also obtained a master’s degree in Military Art and Science in the field of Military History.
Upon his return from the CGSC in 2007, he was assigned to the Force Planning Branch of the J5 / SAF General Staff, dealing mainly with NATO Force Goals for the SAF. In that same year, he was promoted to the rank of Major, and sent to serve in the Operation ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2009, he was appointed Chief of Staff (COS) to the Logistics Brigade, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2010.
He deployed to SHAPE in 2011 and worked at the Slovenian National Military Representative office until 2015.
After finishing his tour at SHAPE, he returned to Slovenia and was assigned to the J3 branch at SAF General Staff, where he was responsible for the Balkan operations, NRF, and the force generation process.
In 2016, he took over as Commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment / 1st Brigade.
From 2017 to 2018, he deployed to Kosovo, where he served as Deputy Commander of the Joint Regional Command North (JRD-N).
Upon his return from KFOR, he was appointed to the J5 / SAF Force Command, serving as Planning Team Leader and Deputy J5.
In 2018, he was assigned to the J1 / SAF General Staff in charge of the Personnel Policy Section, and was promoted to the rank of Colonel in autumn of 2019.
In 2020 he served as the Chief, J5 / SAF General Staff.
Between 2021 and his assignment to SHAPE, he worked as an Arms Control Inspector.
Colonel Verlič is married to Dr Stanka Lunder Verlič, with whom they have two sons.
Education:
- Master of Military Art and Science - Military History, U.S. Army CGSC, 2007
- Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources Management, Faculty of Organizational Science, University of Maribor, 2000
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, 1994
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