Sławomir Petelicki

Sławomir Petelicki
Colonel Sławomir Petelicki in 1997.
Born	(1946-09-13)September 13, 1946 Warsaw, Poland
Died	June 16, 2012(2012-06-16) (aged 65) Warsaw, Poland
Allegiance	Poland
Service/branch	Polish Land Forces
Years of service	1969-1999
Rank	Brigadier General
Unit	GROM
Battles/wars	Operation Uphold Democracy
Awards
Spouse(s)	Agnieszka Petelicka

Brigadier General Sławomir Petelicki (13 September 1946 – 16 June 2012) was the first commander of the Polish special forces unit GROM from July 13, 1990, until December 19, 1995. Later, he was the head of the Foundation of Former GROM Soldiers.

Sławomir Petelicki was born September 13, 1946 in Warsaw. In 1969 he graduated from the Law Faculty of the Warsaw University. The same year he joined the I Department(Intelligence) Ministry of Internal Affairs of People's Republic of Poland and, until 1990, he served at various posts in the intelligence. On various posts in Polish embassies abroad he was responsible for counter-intelligence. Since 1973 a military advisor at the Polish consulate in New York. Upon his return to Poland he continued his service in the economical intelligence. After a brief stay in Sweden between 1983 and 1987, where he served as the head of the Polish intelligence in the embassy in , he returned to Poland where he was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the commanding officer of all the security services guarding Polish embassies and consulates.

Apart from his intelligence service, Petelicki was also an active member of special forces. He gained extensive experience in reconnaissance and diversion. Very little is known of the missions he was part of, apart from the missions to North Vietnam in 1971 and to China the following year.

In 1990 Petelicki was assigned to a newly formed, then top secret JW 2305 special forces. Initially consisting only of himself, the unit was soon expanded to become GROM. For the first several years the unit remained completely secret. It was first reported to the press in 1992 and became known to the public in 1994, after their first major military operation in Haiti. Dismissed on December 19, 1995, Petelicki remained unassigned.