During later deployments to the former Indonesian territory of East Timor, where around 174,000 Timorese died as a result of Indonesian military operations, Yudhoyono headed a battalion of soldiers.
His name has been mentioned by opponents in connection with atrocities, but there have never been trials for past military rights abuses and no evidence has ever been presented linking him to wrongdoing.
It was his reputation for integrity and respect for human rights that led to his appointment in 1995 as a top military observer with the UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia, where he headed a contingent of Indonesian soldiers.
As Indonesia entered a period of instability at the end of the 32-year Suharto dictatorship in the late 1990s, Dr Yudhoyono continued to climb the military ladder.
Joining the first post-Suharto government as mining minister, he quickly rose to the prominent post of security and political affairs minister. His resignation after a political spat over the country's future with the president earned him public support and he handily won the 2004 presidency.
Married with two sons, the president has released several albums featuring his own love songs, some of them now covered by Indonesian boy bands and sold in record stores. They 'express my feelings and thoughts as president and an ordinary human being,' he said on his Web site. -- AP