- Jonathon Riley
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Jonathon Riley 
Lieutenant General Jonathon RileyBorn 16 January 1955 Allegiance 
United KingdomService/branch 
British ArmyYears of service 1974–2009 Rank Lieutenant-General Unit Queen's Regiment
Royal Welch FusiliersCommands held General Officer Commanding, Multi-National Division (South-East)
Deputy Commander, ISAFBattles/wars The Troubles
Sierra Leone Iraq War
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)Awards Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Legion of Merit NATO MSMLieutenant-General Jonathon Peter Riley, CB, DSO (born 16 January 1955) is a British Army officer and military historian.[1]
Contents
Early and personal life
Riley was brought up in Yorkshire, and educated at St Mary's School in Beverley and Kingston Grammar School, before gaining a degree in geography from University College, London, a Master's degree in history at Leeds University and a PhD at Cranfield.
Military career
He joined the Queen's Regiment in 1974,[2] was commissioned in 1975[3] and promoted to lieutenant on 9 March 1976.[4] Promoted to captain on 9 September 1980,[5] major in 1987[6] and lieutenant colonel in 1993,[7] he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1996[8] and promoted to full colonel in July 1997.[9] He served six tours in Northern Ireland and five in the Balkans, in addition to service in Central America and Sierra Leone.[1] He was Commanding Officer of the 1st Bn The Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Gorazde in 1995, promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1998[10] Commander of 1st Mechanised Brigade in Bosnia in 1999 and Commander of the UK Joint Task Force in Sierra Leone in 2000.[11]
In 2001, he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service.[12]
Riley was appointed General Officer Commanding, Multi-National Division, south-east Iraq in 2004 and promoted to major-general[13] and Deputy Commander, International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan in 2008.[14] In 2005, he was awarded the United States' Legion of Merit for his service in Iraq.[15]
He served as honorary colonel of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, from 2005 to 2007, succeeded by Brigadier RHT Aitken.[16][17]
On 18 December 2007, Riley was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General and appointed deputy commander, ISAF in Afghanistan.[18] He was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal by the Secretary-General. He trnasferred to the reserve on 15 September 2009.[19]
Riley studied at the Staff College, Camberley in 1987 before going on to teach there in 1993 and serving as Deputy Commandant of the Staff College from 2001 to 2003.[20]
He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2008 New Year Honours.[21] He is also a Member of Council of the Royal United Services Institute.
On December 14, 2009, Riley gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry in which he stated that British troops had not expected to be faced with an insurgency as well as defending the decision to disband the Iraqi Army after the invasion.[22]
In February, 2011 he gave evidence at the trial of Radovan Karazjic at the ICTY in The Hague.
Riley was appointed Director General and Master of the Royal Armouries early in September 2009. The Royal Armouries is Britain's national collection of arms and armour, including artillery.
Works
Riley has written and edited a number of books on military history, including:
- From Pole to Pole: Life of Quintin Riley, 1905-80 (1987)
- Soldiers of the Queen: The History of the Queen's Regiment 1966-1992 (1993)
- White Dragon: The Royal Welch Fusiliers in Bosnia (editor) (1995)
- Napoleon and the World War of 1813 (2000)[23]
- The Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1945–2000 (2001)
- The Life and Campaigns of General Hughie Stockwell: From Norway, Through Burma, to Suez (2007)[24]
- Napoleon as a General: Command from the Battlefield to Grand Strategy (2007)[25]
- That Astonishing Infantry: The History of the Royal Welch Fusiliers 1689-2006 (2008)
- Decisive Battles: From Yorktown to Operation Desert Storm (2010)
- Up to Mametz - and Beyond (editor) (2010
References
- ^ a b "Toughest test of brawn and brains". The Times (Times Newspapers Ltd). January 14, 2005. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article411910.ece?print=yes&randnum=1151003209000. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 46427. p. 12552. 10 December 1974. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 46464. p. 518. 14 January 1975. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 46845. p. 3579. 9 March 1976. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 48337. p. 14263. 14 October 1980. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51080. pp. 12383–12385. 5 October 1987. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 53363. p. 11368. 6 July 1993. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 54393. p. 6547. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 54820. pp. 7550–7551. 1 July 1997. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 55365. p. 53. 5 January 1999. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ Operation Telic
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 56373. p. 12748. 30 October 2001. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57502. p. 15982. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ "Farah PRT celebrates development projects increase". Blackanthem.com. January 6, 2008. http://www.blackanthem.com/News/afghanistan/Farah-PRT-celebrates-development-projects-increase13647.shtml. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57751. p. 11649. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57641. p. 6410. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58264. p. 3235. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58546. p. 18310. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59146. p. 13373. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Major General Jonathon Riley DSO MA". Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). 2003. http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/links.htm. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58557. p. 2. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "US would not 'admit' the insurgency in post-war Iraq". BBC News (BBC). 15 December 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8412317.stm. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ Riley, Jonathon (2000). Napoleon and the World War of 1813: lessons in coalition warfighting. ISBN 0714648930. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZeozpuGHhVoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ Riley, Jonathon (2007). The Life and Campaigns of General Hughie Stockwell: From Norway, Through Burma, to Suez (Illustrated ed.). Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 9781844155040. http://books.google.com/books?id=vMVbAAAACAAJ&dq=The+Life+and+Campaigns+of+General+Hughie+Stockwell&cd=1. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ Riley, Jonathon (2007). Napoleon as a General (Illustrated ed.). Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 9781847251800. http://books.google.com/books?id=IuhnAAAAMAAJ&q=Napoleon+as+a+General&dq=Napoleon+as+a+General&cd=2. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
External links
- Lecture on Decisive Battles at the Pritzker Military Library
Military offices Preceded by
No occupant - new postDeputy Commander, ISAF
2008–2009Succeeded by
Sir James Dutton, RMCategories:- 1955 births
- Royal Welch Fusiliers officers
- Alumni of University College London
- British Army generals
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service
- Officers of the Legion of Merit
- Living people
- Witnesses of the Iraq Inquiry
- British Army personnel of the Iraq War
- Sandhurst graduates
- People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
- British military historians
- Queen's Regiment officers
- British Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
- People educated at Kingston Grammar School
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