Mike Jackson (British Army officer)

General Sir Michael David Jackson, (born 21 March 1944) is a retired British Army officer and one of its most high-profile generals since the Second World War. Originally commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1963, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment in 1970, with which he served two of his three tours of duty in Northern Ireland. On his first, he was present as an adjutant at the events of the Ballymurphy massacre (1971), where eleven unarmed innocent civilians were shot dead by British troops, and then at Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed peaceful protesters, killing fourteen. On his second, he was a company commander in the aftermath of the Warrenpoint ambush (1979), the British Army's heaviest single loss of life during the Troubles. He was assigned to a staff post at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 1982 before assuming command of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, in 1984. Jackson was posted to Northern Ireland for the third time, as a brigade commander, in the early 1990s.

In 1995–1996, Jackson served his first tour in the Balkans, where he commanded a multi-national division of the Implementation Force. Following a staff job in the UK, he was appointed commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in 1997. He returned to the Balkans with the ARRC during the Kosovo War, during which he famously refused to obey an order from American General Wesley Clark, his immediate superior in the NATO chain of command, to block the runways of Pristina Airport and isolate the Russian contingent that was positioned there. He reportedly told Clark, "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". The incident attracted controversy, particularly in the United States, and earned Jackson the nickname "Macho Jacko" in the British tabloid press. Jackson established a working relationship with the Russian general commanding the detachment at Pristina, giving him a bottle of whisky, of which Jackson is known to be fond, and providing the Russians with the protection of a squad of British soldiers, commanded by his son, Mark.

Upon his return to the UK, Jackson was promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Land Command, the second-most senior position in the British Army. After three years as Commander-in-Chief, Jackson was appointed Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, in 2003. He took up the post a month before the start of the Iraq War, amid disputes over the legality of the invasion and claims that the Army was under-equipped. However, he dismissed suggestions that the Army was at "breaking point". The most controversial point of his tenure as CGS was the restructuring of the regiment system and amalgamation of many regiments into larger ones, leading to the loss of historic regiment names. He was succeeded as CGS by General Sir Richard Dannatt in 2006, and retired from the Army after serving for almost 45 years.

Jackson continues to speak on military matters and works as a consultant and guest lecturer, and has published an autobiography. He has three children, from two marriages, and four grandchildren.

Early life

Jackson's father, George, served as a soldier in the Household Cavalry before being commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps. On D-Day, George Jackson assumed command of a squadron of amphibious landing vehicles after his commanding officer was killed in action, and he was later awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and mentioned in despatches for his actions. Jackson was born at his mother's home in Sheffield on 21 March 1944. After the Second World War, George Jackson was eventually posted to Tripoli, Libya, where the family lived for two years, during which time Jackson's younger sister was born. After suffering a heart attack, George retired with the rank of major after 40 years in the Army. Jackson's mother, Ivy (née Bower),Jackson, Gen. Sir Michael David, (Sir Mike)
Who's Who A & C Black, 2011; online edn, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 May 2011. was a curator at a museum in Sheffield.

Jackson was educated at various primary schools as the family moved with his father's postings before being sent to Stamford School, an independent boarding school in south Lincolnshire, where he became a house prefect. He joined the school's Combined Cadet Force along with John Drewienkiewicz, who eventually became a major general. By the age of 15 Jackson had decided that he wanted to be a soldier.

Early military career

Despite being advised by the headmaster at Stamford to consider university, Jackson applied to join the British Army in 1961. He was accepted, and started at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in January 1962, graduating on 20 December 1963. While at Sandhurst, he became increasingly interested in the Parachute Regiment, but eventually applied to, and was commissioned into, the Intelligence Corps as a second lieutenant at the age of 19. After his commissioning, Jackson took up an opportunity offered by the Intelligence Corps to undertake platoon commanders' training with a combat regiment, and opted to do so with the Parachute Regiment. Before leaving Sandhurst, he had applied to take an "in-service degree"—a degree sponsored by the Army at a civilian university—and was accepted to read Russian studies at the University of Birmingham. The course required students to reside in the USSR for several months; as the Ministry of Defence refused to allow Jackson to travel to the country, the university agreed to waive the requirement. Jackson returned to the army after graduation as a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Russian Language and Literature in 1967. His first promotion was to lieutenant on 20 June 1965, and he served with the Parachute Regiment in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Anguilla—where he served as adjutant when his battalion relieved the force sent to restore order during the 1969 emergency—after which he was promoted to the rank of captain. Following Anguilla, his tenure with the Parachute Regiment ended and he reluctantly returned to the Intelligence Corps. He became increasingly determined to rejoin the Parachute Regiment and, after almost a year, was eventually allowed to transfer, retaining the rank of captain in 1970.

He went on to serve in Northern Ireland as adjutant to 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), and was present at the events of the Ballymurphy massacre, where 11 unarmed civilians were shot dead by British troops in August 1971 and at the events of Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972, when 14 unarmed civilian civil rights protesters were shot dead by soldiers from 1 PARA in Derry. He was in the tactical headquarters of the Army's operation to contain the protests immediately before the Bloody Sunday shooting began and he accompanied the battalion commander, Derek Wilford, when Wilford decided to join the soldiers on the ground. The shooting was over by the time Jackson reached the soldiers' position, but he recalls seeing several bodies in the back of an Army vehicle. In 1976, he was promoted to major and attended the Staff College, Camberley, before being posted to Germany as chief of staff to the Berlin Infantry Brigade. After Berlin, Jackson served his second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, this time as a company commander. While there, he witnessed the aftermath of the 1979 Warrenpoint ambush, the British Army's single largest loss of life during The Troubles. He acted as the incident commander, arriving on the scene shortly after the second explosion, and had to identify Major Peter Fursman, a close friend, from the remains of Fursman's face, which had been blown clear of his skull. He later spoke of the effect the incident had on him, saying, "It greatly disturbed me. Still does". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours and was mentioned in despatches in 1981, in recognition of his service in Northern Ireland.

Having attended the National Defence College, Jackson joined the directing staff at the Army Staff College and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1981. He served as a member of the directing staff at the Staff College, Camberley, for two and a half years. During his tenure at Camberley, he was seconded to a staff position at the Ministry of Defence in 1982 during the Falklands War, and thus missed the opportunity to serve in the conflict directly. He took command of 1 PARA in March 1984, who, at the time, were deployed in Norway, training for the possibility of a Soviet attack. Concerned that he was insufficiently prepared for the weather conditions, he left Camberley early to train with the Royal Marines. He was appointed Senior Directing Staff (Army) at the Joint Service Defence College from 1986 to 1988 and was promoted to colonel in 1987.

While serving as a colonel, Jackson considered resigning his commission. He wondered if he had missed his chance for promotion to brigadier at the age of 44, and believed he might have "reached isceiling" as it was unusual for older officers to be selected for promotion. He was persuaded to try again the next year and was promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1989, after spending six months on a Service Fellowship writing a paper on the future of the Army and taking the Higher Command and Staff Course. He went on to serve his third tour in Northern Ireland, commanding 39 Infantry Brigade—a post he held until 1992, thus missing the Gulf War. He was promoted from Member to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992.

High command

Jackson attained general officer status with promotion to acting major general in May 1992, after holding only one post as a brigadier; in peacetime, senior officers are normally expected to have held two posts before promotion. He was appointed Director General Personal Services (Army) at the Ministry of Defence, reporting to the Adjutant General. He was granted the substantive rank of major general in June 1992, with his promotion backdated to October 1991. After two years at the MoD, Jackson took command of the 3rd Mechanised Division in April 1994. During the Yugoslav Wars in 1995, Jackson had been due to succeed Rupert Smith as commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), which would have entailed early promotion to lieutenant general (three-star rank) and a blue beret, signifying UN command. As a result of the Dayton Agreement, however, UNPROFOR became the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), and Jackson remained a major general (two-star rank), commanding the 3rd Division and troops from several other countries who made up Multinational Division South-West. Jackson retained command of the 3rd Division until July 1996 and went on to serve briefly in a staff post as the Army's Director General of Development and Doctrine. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in November 1996.

After he was appointed Commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), Jackson was promoted to acting lieutenant general in January 1997, a rank he was granted substantively in April 1997. Jackson served in the NATO chain of command, reporting to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, American four-star General Wesley Clark. Under Jackson's command, the ARRC deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1999, where Jackson served his second tour of duty in the Balkans, commanding KFOR, NATO's multi-national peacekeeping force established at the end of the Kosovo War. He gained significant media attention in June 1999 after a confrontation with Clark in which he refused to block the runways of the Russian-occupied Pristina Airport and isolate the Russian troops there, thus preventing them from flying in reinforcements. In one heated discussion with Clark, Jackson reputedly told him "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". He later told the BBC
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