[1] Keating served as Commander, Crib Rotation 6, the Provincial Reconstruction Team, in the early years of the deployment to Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

Keating was promoted to lieutenant general and took over as Chief of Defence Force (CDF) for a three-year term on 1 February 2014.

[2][3] On 3 April 2018 Keating announced he would be stepping down as CDF on the completion of his term on 30 June.

Keating did not give a reason for his resignation, but said he was not standing down due to the allegations about Operation Burnham in 2010 which was the subject of the book Hit & Run.

[5] In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Keating was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.