He was educated in the Norwegian army, in addition to cand.mag.-degrees in history, political science and social studies.
Having served as head of Forsvarskommando Sør-Norge (the Southern Norway Defence Command) Frisvold succeeded Arne Solli as Chief of Defence of Norway on 30 April 1999.
During his leadership period the armed forces underwent major reorganization and closure of units and camps, as well as introduction of some new administrative measures, including the introduction of Regional Support Function (Norwegian: Regional støttefunksjon, RSF) and Horizontal Trade (Norwegian: Horisontal samhandel).
On 10 December 2004, Frisvold announced that he would be resigning of his own volition as Chief of Defence after he had been on sick leave several times the last year.
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