John Smith
(Lt Col, Retd)

John joined the Army in 1978 into the Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Armoured Corps in Bovington for his initial military training. He then joined his Regiment 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry) in Germany in January 1980 as a Trooper. He served initially in Northern Ireland and Germany before specializing as a member of the Special Duties team, now Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) in Northern Ireland.

This was followed by further operational deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has served at all ranks from Trooper to Lieutenant Colonel which included RSM of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards followed by a second appointment as Divisional RSM of 3rd (UK) Division. Prior to leaving his Regiment for staff appointments, John was Squadron Leader in Afghanistan.

He has served in HQ 1 (UK) Armoured Division as the Training & Resources SO3, HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps as the SO2 Operations & Plans and as the Quartermaster Technical to the largest vehicle fleet in the British Army in BATUS Canada. Prior to leaving the Army he held a Command Appointment as the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Armour Centre in Bovington as a Lieutenant Colonel, finishing his service where he started his career.

John retired from the Army in 2016 after 38 years having secured employment with General Dynamics Land Systems. His current role is the Trials Operations Manager and responsibilities include sourcing and managing trial sites in UK, mainland Europe and the Middle East for all vehicle trials for the AJAX programme. He is also responsible for the trials team consisting of 35 personnel who are all Ex-Military bar one. He has recently returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he and his team supported the Household Cavalry Regiment on their AJAX Summer Trials.

A keen sportsman in his youth he played several Regimental and Corps sports and was Army Junior Champion in the Two-Man Bobsleigh team as brakeman in 1994. He now enjoys cycling, swimming and golf with as much international travel as possible. He has been married to Trish for 39 years and they have two daughters, one grandson and one granddaughter.