General Sir Nick Carter joined the Army in 1977 as an 18 year old and commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into The Royal Green Jackets, an infantry regiment. During his early career he served in Germany during the Cold War, in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, in Cyprus with the UN and in command of a battalion on operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. He then served in Iraq, and led 55,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan during the troop 'surge'. He led the team which reorganised the army after the 2010 Security and Defence Review (known as Army 2020). He has been the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army since 2014, leading it through the most recent Security and Defence Review in 2015. He assumed the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff in 2018, before retiring in 2021.