Airborne Assault MuseumIan McGill was born in Pakistan in 1946 while his father was serving with the 8th Gurkha Rifles. The family moved to Zimbabwe shortly afterwards where he was brought up on a farm near Norton, attending boarding schools at Ruzawi and Peterhouse. He joined the British Army in 1965 and went to Sandhurst.
Commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1967, he initially served as a troop commander in Thailand, Singapore, Germany, Northern Ireland, England, America and Cyprus with support, mechanised, and commando squadrons before joining 9 Independent Parachute Squadron as the Second in Command for 2 years in 1974. He then worked, on attachment, for Gleesons Civil Engineering and LG Mouchel for 18 months on the M25 and M63 motorways before attending Staff College. He commanded 9 Parachute Squadron from December 1979 to February 1982, returning to Northern Ireland for a fourth time, was Second in Command of 28 Amphibious Regiment in Germany and commanded 36 Engineer Regiment while it was part of 5 Airborne Brigade.
After the Higher Command and Staff Course his appointments included Commander British Forces Kuwait in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War, Commander Engineer at Land Command from 1992-1995, Engineer-in-Chief (Army) from 1995-1998 and Commander Initial Training Group from 1999 to 2001. He was awarded the CBE in 1998 for his contribution to the Royal Engineers.
His staff appointments have comprised an exchange posting in Canada dealing with training; a tour as an instructor at the Army Staff College, Camberley; a year working for the Director of Military Operations initiating an assessment of operational effectiveness in the Field Army and 18 months as Colonel Tactical Doctrine within Headquarters Doctrine and Training. For 6 months in 1998 he was Chief J3 (Operations) in the Headquarters of the NATO led Stabilisation Force in Sarajevo, where he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable service.
On leaving the Army in 2001 he joined Amey as part of a consortium with Bovis Lend Lease, before the welcome opportunity arose to join the Cadet Movement a year later. He handed over as General Secretary of the Army Cadet Force Association and Secretary of the Combined Cadet Force Association in March 2006.
He is married with a son who is teaching and a daughter who is working in television. His home is in Salisbury, Wiltshire and his interests include hill walking, photography, sport and travel.
Service History
- 1965 Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (Officer Cadet)
- 1967 Royal School of Military Engineering (Second Lieutenant)
- 1968 54 (FARELF) Support Squadron RE (Thailand and Singapore) (Second Lieutenant)
- 1968 Royal Military College of Science (Lieutenant)
- 1971 12 Field Squadron RE (Lieutenant)
- 1973 Commando course (Lieutenant)
- 1973 59 Independent Commando Squadron (Captain)
- 1974 9 Parachute Squadron RE (Captain)
- 1974 Pre Para, P Company and Basic Para Course (Captain)
- 1976 Professional Civil Engineer Training at RSME (Captain)
- 1978 Army Staff Course at Royal Military College of Science (Captain)
- 1979 Army Staff Course, Camberley (Major)
- 1979 9th Parachute Squadron RE (Major)
- 1982 SO2 Staff Officer exchange with Canadian Army in Ottawa (Major)
- 1983 Student Army Command & Staff College, Camberley (Captain)
- 1984 28 Amphibious Engineer Regiment, Hameln, Germany (Major)
- 1985 36 Engineer Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel)
- 1988 SO1 Directing Staff at Staff College, Camberley (Lieutenant-Colonel)
- 1989 Working for the Director Military Operations in the MOD (Acting Colonel)
- 1990 Chief of Staff Tactical Doctrine at Wilton (Colonel)
- 1991 Higher Command and Staff Course (Colonel)
- 1991 Commander British Forces Kuwait (Colonel)
- 1992 Commander, Engineers United Kingdom Land Forces/LAND (Brigadier)
- 1995 Engineer in Chief (Army) (Brigadier)
- 1998 Chief J3 HQ NATO Stabilisation Force (SFOR), Sarajevo (Brigadier)
- 1999 Commander Initial Training Group, Upavon (Brigadier)
- 2001 Retired (Brigadier)
