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Updated: 25 September 1999
Deputy Commander (Operations)Lieutenant General MA Willcocks CB BSc (Hons)Lieutenant General Mike Willcocks was commissioned into the Royal Artillery from RMA Sandhurst in 1964. Her served regimentally in England, Malaya and Borneo before completing an in-service Honours Degree. Tours in Germany and Northern Ireland followed before returning to Sandhurst in 1972, initially as the first Adjutant of the newly formed Standard Military Course College, and then as a Company Instructor. He attended the Staff College Camberly in 1976 and was then posted to the Master General of Ordinance Secretariat in the Ministry of Defence. From 1979 to 1980 he commanded M Battery Royal Horse Artillery, and independent anti-tank battery in Germany. This period included a further tour in Northern Ireland. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in January 1981 he spent the next two years on the Directing Staff at the Staff College Camberley. He commanded 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery from 1983 to 1985 in Germany. He was promoted to Colonel in June 1985 and was appointed DACOS (O&D) at Headquarters United Kingdom Land Forces that August. From January to March 1988 he attended the first Higher Command and Staff Course and then returned to HQ UKLF as ACOS G2/G3 in the rank of Brigadier. He was appointed commander Royal Artillery, 4th Armoured Division and Herford Garrison in February 1989. Selected for the 1991 Course at the Royal College of Defence Studies, he was taken off it after three weeks to become ACOS Land Operations at the Joint War Headquarters for the period of the Gulf War and its aftermath, which included the establishment of UK forces as part of the Kurdish Relief Operation. He became Director of Army Plans and Programmes in the Ministry of Defence in July 1991, before being promoted in February 1993 to become the first Director General Land Warfare, responsible for Army doctrine and force development. Whilst in this appointment he led the Defence Cost Review Study on Training and the Joint Headquarters Follow-On Study which led to the formation of the Joint Services Command and Staff College and the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters. He was appointed Chief of Staff, ACE Rapid Reaction Corps in September 1994 and deployed with the Headquarters to Bosnia and Hercegovina in December 1995 where he was Chief of Staff of the Land Component of the Peace Implementation Force, IFOR. He was Assistant Chief of the General Staff from June 1996 until February 1999. He was awarded the CB in January 1997. He was promoted to Lieutenant General and assumed the post of Deputy Commander Operations of the Stabilization Force, SFOR, for Bosnia and Hercegovina based in Sarajevo on 1st March 1999. Lieutenant General Willcocks is married to Jean. They have one son and one daughter. His interests include fishing, sailing, tennis, reading and music. Links
Previous Deputy Commanders of Operation
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