Lieutenant General Mike Elviss CB MBE

Commander Field Army British Army

Mike Elviss commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery in August 1995, joining 29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, and then returned to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an instructor before his initial selection for sub-unit command in 2002. He deployed to Iraq twice in 2003 in artillery and infantry roles. Attendance on the Advanced Command and Staff Course followed prior to his appointment as Chief of Staff 20th Armoured Brigade and a return to Iraq. In 2008 he returned to battery command and deployed to Afghanistan. Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Elviss became Military Assistant to the Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 2009 and was subsequently the Military Assistant to the Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. He assumed command of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in September 2011 and commanded the Task Force Helmand Joint Fires and Targeting Group throughout Operation Herrick 18. In March 2014 he was appointed Assistant Head Operations of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Current Commitments Team in the Operations Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. After attendance on the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2015 he returned to the Operations Directorate as Head Operations Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria. Lt Gen Elviss commanded 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade between July 2016 and July 2018, including a year as NATO’s Very High Readiness Task Force (Land) and the Vanguard Armoured Infantry Brigade. He became a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies in September 2018 prior to filling the post of Assistant Chief of Staff Field Army. In February 2020 General Elviss became General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division and was subsequently Chief of Staff (Operations) at the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters between October 2021 and February 2024. Lieutenant General Elviss assumed command of the Field Army on 18 March 2024.