From February 2017 to July 2018 he was Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.

The following years brought more continuing education and various deployments as a field officer, including a foreign mission in Iraq as acting chief of staff of the Polish contingent.

In 2008 Surawski was promoted to brigadier general and appointed commander of the 20th Mechanized Brigade in Bartoszyce.

When Mieczysław Gocuł departed at the beginning of 2017, Surawski succeeded him as Chief of the General Staff.

Only four months later, he handed over the leadership of the armed forces to Rajmund Andrzejczak on 2 July 2018.