Senior Command
He was promoted brigadier on 31 December 1973, and appointed commander of 39th Infantry Brigade, based in Northern Ireland, the following year. For his work in Northern Ireland, he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
In 1975, he was appointed the Deputy Adjutant General of the British Army of the Rhine, and on 24 January 1978, he was appointed Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin, with the acting rank of major-general, and received substantive promotion on 22 July 1978. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) on 25 May 1978. He relinquished command on 15 September 1980.
On 19 December 1980, he was appointed Vice-Adjutant General, and Director of Manning for the Army at the Ministry of Defence, and relinquished the appointment on 29 March 1982.
He succeeded Richard Lawson as GOC Northern Ireland on 1 June 1982, was promoted to lieutenant-general on the same date, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 12 June 1982. He had previously commanded both a roulement battalion and a resident brigade in Northern Ireland, giving him experience of the issues faced in the region. His tour as GOC was mainly marked by a gradual process of reducing the role of Army units in day-to-day security, handing over control to the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He was relieved by Robert Pascoe in June 1985.
Read more about this topic: Robert Richardson (British Army Officer)
Famous quotes containing the words senior and/or command:
“Never burn bridges. Today’s junior prick, tomorrow’s senior partner.”
—Kevin Wade, U.S. screenwriter, and Mike Nichols. Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver)
“How did you get in the Navy? How did you get on our side? Ah, you ignorant, arrogant, ambitious—keeping sixty two men in prison cause you got a palm tree for the work they did. I don’t know which I hate worse, you or that malignant growth that stands outside your door. How did you ever get command of a ship? I realize in wartime they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel. But where’d they ever scrape you up?”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)