Martin Herem
Estonian general (born 1973)
Martin Herem (born 17 December 1973) is an Estonian General and currently serves as Minister of Defence. He was the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces from 2018 to 2024.
Herem entered into service in 1992. From 2013 to 2016 he served as the Commandant of the Estonian National Defence College and from 2016 to 2018 Chief of Staff of the Headquarters of the Estonian Defence Forces. Herem was one of the re-founding members of the paramilitary Estonian Defence League in 1990.
On 24 January 2023, Martin Herem was promoted to the rank of general.
Herem became the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces in December 2018. His tenure was extended for another two years in October 2022, in the interests of stability in the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 16 January 2024, Herem announced his plan to step down from the post in the summer of 2024, calling the situation stable enough for the change of leadership, which it might not be in the end of his tenure in two years time.
Military career
09.1992–06.1996 Estonian National Defence College, cadet
07.1996–02.1998 Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion, Platoon Leader
02.1998–07.1998 Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion, Company Executive Officer
07.1998–11.1998 Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion, S3 Staff Officer
11.1998–01.2000 Tartu Single Infantry Battalion, S3 Staff Officer
01.2000–07.2000 Tartu Single Infantry Battalion, S3 Staff Commander
07.2000–07.2001 Tartu Single Infantry Battalion, Staff Commander
08.2002–08.2003 Estonian National Defence College, Instructor of the Tactics Department
09.2003–02.2006 Estonian National Defence College, Head of the Tactics Department
02.2006–06.2006 Operation Iraqi Freedom II training mission Senior Staff Officer with US brigade
06.2006–04.2007 Estonian National Defence College, Head of the Tactics Department
04.2007–05.2008 Tapa Training Center, Staff Commander
06.2008–07.2012 North-Eastern Defence Command, Commander
07.2012–08.2013 Estonian National Defence College, Deputy Commander
08.2013–07.2016 Estonian National Defence College, Commandant
07.2016–12.2018 Headquarters of the Estonian Defence Forces, Chief of Staff
12.2018–06.2024 Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces
Effective dates of promotion
Awards and decorations
Decorations and badges
Personal life
Martin Herem is married and has a son and two daughters.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Martin Herem” is estonian general (born 1973). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Martin, Herem and Estonian, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28790814. VIAF identifies the subject as 15149542837700302052. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 2018, 2024 and 1992.
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