Allegiance United Kingdom Rank Major-general | Name Stuart Skeates Years of service 1989 – present | |
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Commands held Standing Joint Force CommanderRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst19th Light Brigade26th Regiment Royal Artillery Battles/wars The TroublesGulf WarBosnian WarIraq WarWar in Afghanistan Awards Order of the British Empire Battles and wars | ||
Major General Stuart Richard Skeates (born 1966) is a British Army officer who serves as Standing Joint Force Commander.
Military career
Educated at King's College London (BA History, 1988; MA Defence Studies, 1999) and Cranfield University (MA, 1998), Skeates was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1989. He served in the Gulf War and in the Bosnian War, took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and then served as Military Assistant to the General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland in the final years of Operation Banner. He became Commanding Officer of 26th Regiment Royal Artillery in Gütersloh, then Deputy Commander of 52nd Brigade (deployed as Task Force Helmand) and then Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff Operations for Afghanistan and Pakistan at Permanent Joint Headquarters. He became Commander of 19th Light Brigade in December 2009, Deputy Commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in 2011 and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in August 2013. He was appointed as Standing Joint Force Commander on 24 June 2015.