Lieutenant General Patrick Sanders was commissioned into The Royal Green Jackets in 1986 with whom he served in Germany, Northern Ireland, Canada and Norway. He has commanded on operations in Crossmaglen, West Belfast, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. On the staff, he served as Chief of Staff of 1st Mechanised Brigade, deploying to Oman and Kosovo. On promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 2003, he served in Baghdad as a strategic planner and Pol-Mil adviser to the US Commander of CJTF-7. In 2004 he was posted to the Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff. He commanded 2RGJ (becoming 4 RIFLES) from 2005-2008, including a tour of Basra in 2007. He attended the Higher Command and Staff Course before establishing the post of Colonel Army Strategy in May 2008 in the MOD. He commanded 20th Armoured Brigade 2009-2012 in Germany and in Afghanistan as Task Force Helmand 2011-2012. After a brief period in Washington as the Chief of Defence Staff’s Liaison Officer to the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he served as Head of Operations ‘A’ in the MOD. Promoted to Major General in March 2013, he served for 2 years as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operations), before taking over as GOC 3 (UK) Division in May 2015. He assumed his current post as Commander Field Army in December 2016. He was awarded the OBE in 2004, the DSO in 2008, and the CBE in 2012. He speaks fluent French and Norwegian, scratchy Spanish and can offend in Arabic, Pashtun, Dari, Albanian and Serbo-Croat. Married to Fiona Bullen, a successful author, they have a son (Kit) at Edinburgh University. Lieutenant General Sanders enjoys cycling, ski mountaineering, hunting and fly fishing. He is fond of whisky and Spurs. He dislikes scotch eggs and can’t bear Arsenal.