Nick Parker - High Command

High Command

Parker served as commander of the British task force in Sierra Leone and advisor to the country's president in 2001, and went on to become General Officer Commanding, 2nd Division in November 2002, being promoted to major-general on the same date. As General Officer Commanding 2nd Division, he was also Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

In 2004 he served as Commandant of the Joint Services Command and Staff College, before taking over as Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps, Iraq, holding the position from August 2005 to February 2006.

Parker was appointed General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland and promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general on 18 July 2006. In Northern Ireland he was responsible for reducing the UK's troop commitment in the Province and is quoted as saying "that the military had made a significant contribution to security in Northern Ireland that has allowed other people to make the difference through politics, social programmes and economics". Parker oversaw the closure of the base at Bessbrook, County Armagh, which, he said, "signifies a time when the army stops being part of the security forces and moves into being part of the community."

Parker was awarded the American Legion of Merit "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services during coalition operations in Afghanistan" in 2007. In October 2007, he became Commander of Regional Forces at Land Command, a dual-hatted role as Inspector-General of the Territorial Army in which role he advocated for the TA and the regular Army to be regarded as a single organisation, pointing out that both face identical risks on deployment and saying "the TA soldier brings maturity and a wider understanding of the world - the end result, more so now than ever before, is the one Army and everyone should feel part of the same team". As Commander, Regional Forces, Parker was responsible for overseeing the £3 billion overhaul of the Army's Royal Engineers' Royal School of Military Engineering in a public-private partnership in September 2008 as well as accepting the Freedom of the City of Bath on behalf of the Rifles in October 2008, and campaigning for the creation of an Armed Forces Day for the UK, a proposal that was implemented in July 2009.