Chemical and biological weapons expert
Colonel Hamish Stephen de Bretton-Gordon OBE (born September 1963) is a chemical weapons expert. He was a British Army officer for 23 years and commanding officer of the UK's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion.[1] He is a visiting lecturer in disaster management at Bournemouth University.[2] He has commented on chemical and biological weapons for the BBC,[3] ABC[4] and The Guardian[5] and on tank warfare for the Daily Telegraph.[6]
Military service
On 4 January 1988, while being sponsored through university by the British Army as a university candidate, de Bretton-Gordon was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Tank Regiment.[7] In September 1988, his commission was confirmed: he was given seniority in the rank of second lieutenant from 10 August 1985, and promoted to lieutenant backdated to 4 January 1988 with seniority from 10 August 1987.[8] He transferred from a short service commission to a regular commission on 29 January 1991,[9] and was promoted to captain on 10 August 1991.[10] In 1991, he saw active service in Iraq with the 14th/20th King's Hussars as part of the First Gulf War.[11]
After attending the Australian Command and Staff College, he was promoted to major on 30 September 1995.[12][13] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2003.[14] In 2004, rather than receiving the command of a tank regiment as he'd expected, he was appointed commanding officer of the UK's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment.[15] In preparation for the command, he studied for a diploma in chemical biology at the Royal Military College of Science.[16] In the 2005 New Year Honours, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[17] He additionally commanded NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion between 2005 and 2007.[18] He was promoted to colonel on 30 June 2007.[19] From 2007 to 2010, he was based at HQ Land Command as assistant director intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.[13] He retired from the British Army on 12 September 2011.[20]
See also
References
External links