Exonian to become Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe

The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps announced this autumn that Lieutenant General Sir Richard Shirreff KCB, CBE (1974, Modern History), Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, has been appointed to be Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR). General Shirreff has commanded the ARRC since January 2007; he will take up his new appointment in March 2011.

General Shirreff’s service was spent in Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, the Gulf and, while attached to 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles for a year, Hong Kong and Brunei. He commanded The King’s Royal Hussars 1994-96. Staff posts have included: Chief of Staff, Headquarters 33 Armoured Brigade; Military Assistant to the last Commander in Chief, British Army of the Rhine and Commander Northern Army Group; Colonel Army Plans in the MOD; Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Staff HQ LAND Command. He has commanded on operations at every level from platoon to division. This has included combat in the Gulf War of 1991 as a tank squadron leader, counter-insurgency operations in the infantry role in Northern Ireland, together with Iraq and Kosovo.

Headquarters ARRC is a NATO High Readiness Force (Land) HQ.