Early Life and Military Career
Kemp was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School. He then served as a soldier and officer in the Royal Anglian Regiment from 1977 to 2006. He started his training as an infantry soldier in 1977 at Bassingbourn Barracks, Cambridgeshire. The following year he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as second lieutenant on the General List on 5 August 1978. He was posted back to the Royal Anglian Regiment on 3 March 1979, his first regimental appointment was as a platoon commander with the 3rd Battalion, based in Palace Barracks, Belfast. After leaving Belfast he subsequently saw service around the world, including Germany, Kenya and Cyprus. Throughout his military career Kemp completed seven tours on Operation Banner in Northern Ireland, including West Belfast, South Armagh, Derry City and County Londonderry; and a Spearhead tour to Armagh. He was promoted lieutenant on 5 August 1980, and captain on 5 August 1985. He later became an instructor at Bassingbourn before a posting to the 2nd Battalion as the second in charge (2IC) of a Company, Milan Platoon Commander, and then Battle Group Operations Officer, serving across the world including a tour as part of UNFICYP in Cyprus.
Kemp spent much of his early career working in mechanized and armoured infantry, including command of a Warrior company and command of the Armoured Infantry Training and Advisory Team covering British military units in Germany and the UK. He wrote the military operations manual, 'Armoured Infantry Company Group Tactics', which remains in use today forming a part of British Military doctrine.
As a captain in the Royal Anglian Regiment he took part in the first Gulf War, in 1990–91, commanding Brigadier Patrick Cordingley's 7th Armoured Brigade Tactical Headquarters. He was promoted major on 30 September 1991. In the late 1990s, he devised a new system for training Warrior AFV crews in gunnery combined with tactical movement, utilising standard armour ranges. The system was a development of US armoured infantry training techniques, and was subsequently adopted by elements of the Royal Armoured Corps.
Following tours with the headquarters of the 7th Armoured Brigade, at Camberley Staff College and in Headquarters Northern Ireland, he returned to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment as Point Company Commander, leading the company in Bosnia, Germany and Canada. In Bosnia, he served on operations with the United Nations (UNPROFOR). He then took over the Armoured Infantry Training and Advisory Team based at Hohne and Sennelager, and held a staff appointment in the Ministry of Defence. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 30 June 1997, and commanded the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment in Oakington and Londonderry from 1998 to 2000. After this command, he was appointed Commander of the Operational Training and Advisory Group and then spent six months as Counter Terrorism and Security Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.
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