Jan 302014
 

Educated at Winchester college academically and experienced within the royal green jackets the school of green.

The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan has been appointed as the new head of the Army.

General Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter KCB CBE DSO

Carter was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets as a second Lieutenant on the 8th April 1978, initially holding a short service commission. He was promoted lieutenant on the 8th April 1980,switched to a full career commission in 1982,promoted captain on  the 8th October 1984,and to major on the 30th September 1991.He was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Years Honours.

Carter was promoted lieutenant-colonel on the 30th  June 1996.In 1998 he was appointed Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets in which role he was deployed to Bosnia in 1998 and Kosovo in 1999.For his service in Bosnia, he was awarded the Queen`s Commendation for Valuable Service on the 7th May 1999.In Kosovo, Carter commanded a group of peacekeepers on a bridge over the River ibarat at Kosovska Mitrocvica where he was tasked with keeping apart thousands of Serbs and Albanians gathered either side of the bridge. Carter later described the role as being the “meat in the sandwich”. He was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire on the 3rd November 2000.

Carter was promoted to Colonel on the 31st December 2000 (with seniority from the 30th June),and to Commander of the Order of the British Empire on the 29th April 2003, following service in the War in Afghanistan.He was promoted to Brigadier on the 31st December 2003 (with seniority from 30 June),and in 2004 he was given command of  20th Armoured Brigade, commanding British forces in Basra,at one point stating that British forces could be in Iraq for “as long as a decade”. On the 7th  September 2004 he was awarded a further Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service for his service in Iraq.

In 2006 he became Director of Army Resources and Plans at the Ministry of Defence. In 2007 he was given the honorary appointment of Deputy Colonel of The Rifles,(the successor regiment to the Royal Green Jackets) and held this post until the 1st of November 2009.On the 23rd January 2009 he was promoted major general and became General Officer Commanding 6th Division which has been deployed to Afghanistan with Carter appointed as Commander ISAF Regional Command South.In September 2009, referring to the efforts of UK and NATO forces, Carter said that “time was not on our side”. Carter returned to the UK in November 2010 after a year deployed. Upon his return, he gave an interview in which he warned that “the insurgency is resilient, and alive and well”. In 2011 he became Director-General Land Warfare in the rank of Lieutenant General.In March 2011 he was awarded the DSO.He became Deputy Commander Land Forces in January 2012.Carter is the current main architect of the Army 2020concept, who reported on his recommendations in April 2012.

Carter assumed the post of Deputy Commander, International Security Assistance Force(ISAF), under the command of American general, John R. Allen, in September 2012.He handed over his ISAF command to Lieutenant General John Lorimer in July 2013.He succeeded Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Bradshaw as Commander Land Forces in November 2013.

Carter was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours.

Sourced from Wikipedia