He began his military career in Borneo during the Confrontation war with Sukarno's Indonesia. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) at the age of 27 for special duties in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, at the height of the terrorist campaign. He spent many years in Germany, including 5 years in Berlin where, in 1989, he was Chief of Staff of the British Sector and head of the military intelligence staff when the Wall fell. He was a member of the Cabinet office intelligence Assessment Staff. He attended the Indian Defence Services Staff College and was an instructor at the German General Staff College College ("Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr") from 1985 to 1988 in Hamburg. His last military appointment was at NATO headquarters in Brussels where he headed the secretariat of the International Military Staff.