General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir John Chalmers McColl, (born 17 April 1952) is a retired senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and a past

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey (, Jèrriais: ''Gouvèrneux d'Jèrri'') is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The Lieutenant Governor has his own flag in Jersey, ...

. McColl previously served as

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

from 2007 to 2011.

Army career

Educated at

Culford School Culford School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils age 1-18 in the village of Culford, miles north of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Confer ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England, McColl was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...

in 1973 and promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 8 September 1974. He was promoted to captain on 8 March 1979 and to major on 30 September 1984. In 1989, he became a squadron commander in the 3rd

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

, was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 1990, and to acting colonel shortly after. He was promoted to colonel on 30 June 1995 and to brigadier on 31 December 1996 (seniority 30 June). He held a variety of commands and military posts before commanding 1st Mechanised Brigade in 1997. In 1999, he became Assistant Chief of Staff at

Land Command Land Command (or 'HQ Land') was a military command and part of the structure of the British Army from 1995 to 2008. Its headquarters was at Erskine Barracks, at Fugglestone St Peter, some four kilometres northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire. It ass ...

and in 2000, he was given command of 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division. In 2001, he was appointed the first leader of the

International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In 2003, he became

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the

Joint Services Command and Staff College Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) is a British military academic establishment providing training and education to experienced officers of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Ministry of Defence Civil Service, and serving offic ...

. He was deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multinational Force, Iraq in March 2004 and at the end of that year he became Commander of Regional Forces at

. He became

(DSACEUR) in the rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

in October 2007, and was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB) in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

. Mccoll was the preferred choice of Afghanistan for the role of U.N. super envoy after they rejected

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...

. However, on 7 March 2008, Norwegian diplomat

Kai Eide Kai Aage Eide (born 28 February 1949 in Sarpsborg) is a Norwegian diplomat and writer. He was appointed the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 7 March ...

was appointed as the UN representative for Afghanistan. He retired as DSACEUR in March 2011.

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey

On 26 October 2010 it was announced that he would be appointed to the role of

. He took office on 26 September 2011. On 5 June 2012, Sir John, and his wife Lady McColl, represented Jersey at the

Queen's Diamond Jubilee The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...

Dedication Service at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. After his fixed term of office, his tenure ended on 30 November 2016 and he was succeeded by Air Chief Marshal Sir

Stephen Dalton Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Gary George Dalton, (born 23 April 1954)''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010, is a retired Royal Air Force commander and former Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. As commanding officer of XIII Squadron, Dalton dep ...

Honours and awards

References

External links

Office of the Lieutenant-Governor
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McColl, John 1952 births British Army generals British Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Governors of Jersey Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Living people Officers of the Legion of Merit People educated at Culford School Royal Anglian Regiment officers Royal Tank Regiment officers NATO military personnel