Major-General Adrian Freer

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Adrian Freer was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment from Mons Officer Cadet School in 1972. His regimental service included tours in all three parachute battalions; platoon commander and adjutant in 1 PARA, a rifle company commander in 3 PARA and commanding officer 2 PARA as well as Commander 5 Airborne Brigade. Major General Freer has trained soldiers at the Depot The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces, SNCOs at the NCOs Tactical Wing, Brecon and CTCRM Lympstone; young officers at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was the first commandant of the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick.

He saw operational service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and also in Kosovo, when he led the UK Spearhead forces into the province in June 1999. He commanded the International Military Advisory Training Team in Sierra Leone and was military advisor to the President of Sierra Leone. He completed his service, seconded to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, with responsibility for the Kosovo Protection Corps.

During his career Adrian Freer attended the Army Staff College, the Joint Services Higher Command and Staff College and the Royal College of Defence Studies. His staff appointments include tours in Hong Kong as Brigade Major 48 Gurkha Bde and ACOS J7 PJHQ.

Adrian Freer retired from the Army in 2005 and worked as a freelance consultant completing a number of diverse projects within the private security industry both within the UK and overseas in the Middle East and Africa. He joined the Office for Civil Nuclear Security in 2008 as the Head of Approvals and Compliance and between 2011/17 he took as the Director Civil Nuclear Security within the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

Adrian Freer retired from the ONR in 2017. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Airborne Forces Museum; a trustee of the Parachute Regiment Charities; President of the Aberdeen Branch of the Parachute Regimental Association and Chair of the Scottish Fundraising Branch for Canine Partners.

He is married to Caroline and they have two daughters. He is a keen sportsman, a member of the MCC and of Blairgowrie Golf Club.

1 Platoon, A Coy, 1 PARA, Hythe & Lydd March and Shoot, 1979.

Service History

1971 Mons Officer Cadet School (Officer Cadet)
1972 P Company and Para Course (Recruit)
1972 The 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA) (Second Lieutenant)
1972 Enlisted at Aldershot (Recruit)
1973 Platoon commander Junior Parachute Company (Second Lieutenant)
1975 ADC to GOC 3 Division (Acting Captain)
1976 Second in Command, A Company 1 PARA (Captain)
1977 Adjutant, 1 PARA (Captain)
1980 Student Junior Division The Staff College (Captain)
1980 Instructor Senior NCOs Division, NCO Tac Wing, Brecon (Captain)
1981 Instructor NCO Wing CTCRM Lympstone (Captain)
1982 Second in Command, A Company, 3 PARA (Captain)
1982 Officer Commanding, B Company 3 PARA (Captain)
1982 B Company 3 PARA (Captain)
1983 3 PARA (Captain)
1983 The 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) (Captain)
1983 Student Army Command & Staff College, Camberley (Captain)
1985 Brigade Major Gurkha Field Force/48 Gurkha Brigade (Major)
1987 C Company, 3 PARA (Major)
1988 Chief Instructor Tactics Victory College RMAS (Major)
1990 Directing Staff Army Command & Staff College, Camberley (Lieutenant-Colonel)
1992 The 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) (Lieutenant-Colonel)
1994 Commandant Infantry Training Centre, Catterick (Colonel)
1997 5 Airborne Brigade (Brigadier)
1999 12 Mechanised Brigade (Brigadier)
2000 Student Royal College of Defence Studies (Brigadier)
2000 Assistant Chief of Staff J7 Permanent Joint Headquarters (Brigadier)
2003 Commander International Military Advisory Training Team, Sierra Leone & Military Advisor to The President of Sierra Leone (Brigadier)
2004 Kosovo Protection Corps Co-Ordinator (Major-General)
2005 Retired (Major-General)