Rupert Smith General Sir Rupert Smith , KCB , DSO & Bar , OBE , QGM ( born 1943 ) was an officer in the British Army until his retirement in 2002 . He demonstrated his leadership as a senior commander during the Gulf War , for which he was recognised with the award of the Distinguished Service Order , and again during the Bosnian War , for which he was recognised with the award of a bar to his DSO . He later became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe . Military career . Smith was educated at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . He enlisted in 1962 and graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant into the Parachute Regiment in December 1964 . He has served in East and South Africa , Arabia , the Caribbean , Northern Ireland , Europe and Malaysia . He was promoted lieutenant in June 1966 , captain in December 1970 , and major in December 1975 . In 1978 , when a major , he was awarded the Queen ' s Gallantry Medal for services in Northern Ireland . In June 1980 Smith was promoted to lieutenant - colonel and again in June 1985 to colonel . His promotion to brigadier came in December 1986 . In October 1990 Smith was promoted major - general taking command of the 1st Armoured Division which he led during the Gulf War ( 1990 – 1991 ) . For services during the war he was awarded the DSO and the Order of King Abdul Aziz 3rd Class . The citation for the DSO , published in the London Gazette reads : He became the first Assistant Chief of Defence Operations and Security at the UK Ministry of Defence in August 1992 . While there he was intimately involved in the UK ' s development of the strategy in Bosnia - Herzegovina . In January 1995 he was granted the acting rank of lieutenant - general and appointed Commander Bosnia and Herzogovina Command to command UNPROFOR in Sarajevo . He was responsible for breaking the siege of the city by creating the UN Rapid Reaction Force , and ultimately thereby bringing the war to an end . His lieutenant - general rank was made substantive in April 1995 and he was awarded a second DSO in 1996 for his services in Bosnia and Herzegovena . Between 1996 and 1998 he was General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland . His final assignment , initially as an acting general , was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe between 1998 and 2001 , covering NATO ' s Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo war , and the development of the European Security and Defence Identity . His general ' s rank was made substantive on 1 January 1999 . His retirement from the army took effect in January 2002 . He was appointed Honorary Colonel of Exeter University OTC in June 2003 having held periods of tenure as Colonel Commandant Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ( November 1992 to November 1997 ) and Colonel Commandant The Parachute Regiment ( July 1993 to September 1998 ) . He also held the appointment of Aide - de - Camp General to the Queen between August 2000 and November 2001 . Works . He is the author of " The Utility of Force : The Art of War in the Modern World " ( 2005 , ISBN 0 - 7139 - 9836 - 9 ) , a treatise on modern warfare that explains why the best military forces in the world win their battles but lose the wars . This is due to the paradigm change in military activity , from industrial warfare to the paradigm identified in the book as " war amongst the people " — a situation in which an outcome cannot be resolved directly by military force . The strategies for war amongst the people should be analysed as fighting and winning a linked series of confrontations rather than a series of battles . External links .