Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Walker

SO1 Infrastructure Permanent Joint Headquarters

Lieutenant Colonel Walker commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers in August 2000. He has been an armoured troop commander in Germany, a high-risk search troop commander in Kosovo, a squadron operations officer in Iraq, and Adjutant of 3 Royal School of Military Engineering. Selected for professional engineering training in 2006, he had a thoroughly enjoyable time on secondment: managing construction on the A2/A282 road improvement scheme at Dartford, and designing roads and drainage in the Southeast of England. He attended the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land) on promotion in 2008 and completed a tour as SO2 Infrastructure in Headquarters Joint Force Support (Afghanistan). His initial staff appointment as Deputy Chief of Staff Headquarters 8 Force Engineer Brigade was followed by command of 25 Field Squadron in Northern Ireland. During which time, he commanded TALISMAN on Operation HERRICK 16 and deployed the Squadron to Jordan and Gibraltar before its disbandment in 2013. He was back in Afghanistan for a third time as Officer Commanding 517 Specialist Team Royal Engineers (Works), responsible for the drawdown of UK infrastructure on Operation HERRICK 18/19. His remaining time in 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group was spent establishing and leading the team tasked with delivering Project ANEMOI in the Falkland Islands. In 2015, he was posted to Permanent Joint Headquarters as SO2 Infrastructure, responsible for planning and delivering projects on behalf of Chief of Joint Operations. He was selected for promotion in 2016 and attended Advanced Command and Staff Course 20 at the Defence Academy. As Commanding Officer 66 Works Group Royal Engineers, he led around 200 military engineers that specialise in fuel, water, materials, power and force protection engineering. The unit is at extremely high readiness for all forms of operations but is uniquely experienced in providing support to UK resilience and overseas Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief operations and, in 2021 he was awarded an OBE for his time in command. He is now back at Permanent Joint Headquarters as SO1 Infrastructure, having spent an insightful and highly rewarding three years in Dstl as a Military Advisor on a range of strategic and operationally focussed research programmes. Alongside his military career, he is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and served two terms as a national member of the Council from 2014 to 2020.