New British Chief of General Staff
(B2) Sir David Richards succeeds Richard Dannat as Chief of Staff of the British Army. Born in 1952, engaged at 19 in the artillery, he served in the Far East and in Germany (29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, 11th Armored Brigade, 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery...) not to mention operational tours in Northern Ireland. North, where the army is called to the rescue against the "terrorists" of the IRA. Promoted to brigadier general in 1996, he served at British operations headquarters from 1998: he notably supervised operations in East Timor (1999) and Sierra Leone (2000). Head of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in April 2001, he served in Afghanistan with IFAS between May 206 and February 2007, a period during which NATO extended its presence to the south and east of the country. Then he became Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Married to Caroline, he has two daughters (Joanna and Pippa).