Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Kafer was admitted to the Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay as a cadet midshipman in 1977.
In 1986, he began an exchange with the Royal Navy, including senior Hydrographic Officer posts aboard HMS Fawn and HMS Herald, which included time spent in the Persian Gulf as part as British anti-mine efforts in the Iran-Iraq War.
[1] Returning to Australia in 1992, he took up command of HMAS Flinders, and in 1994 was appointed as a Director of the RAN Staff College.
[3] Following this, Commodore Kafer was stood down as Commandant, publicly criticised for his handling of the incident by the then Minister for Defence Stephen Smith (Australian politician).
Kafer was promoted to rear admiral in December 2016 and appointed as Head of the Cadet, Reserve and Employer Support Division.