Smith joined the
Australian Army Reserve as a soldier in 1976 and was commissioned into The
Royal Australian Infantry Corps in 1979. He has served with the 40th Independent Rifle Company,
The Royal Tasmania Regiment, the
4th Battalion, The Royal New South Wales Regiment and has held a range of other senior staff and training appointments. In 2006 Smith was promoted to the rank of
brigadier and appointed the assistant commander of the
1st Division and Deployable Joint Force Headquarters. He subsequently deployed to
Iraq, serving as the Commanding General of the Joint Headquarters Transition Team (JHQ-TT) within the US led
Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq. For his service as the Assistant Commander of the 1st Division, Commander of the
9th Brigade and Commanding General of the JHQ-TT, Smith was appointed as a
Member of the Order of Australia in 2010. Smith was promoted to
major general in 2012 and appointed as the Commander of the Australian Army's
2nd Division, which consists of the majority of the Australian Army Reserve. He concluded this appointment on 31 December 2014 and retired from the Australian Army in 2020. ==Education and civil career==