John Reith (British army officer)

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John Reith
Sir John Reith Picture: Copyright NATO
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1969 —
Rank	General
Commands held	1st Bn The Parachute Regiment ACE Mobile Force Chief of Joint Operations
Battles/wars	Gulf, Kosovo
Awards	KCB, CBE

General Sir John Reith, KCB, CBE was the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) from October 2004 to October 2007.

General Sir John Reith was commissioned into The Parachute Regiment in 1969. Early appointments included; Chief of Staff of 20 Armoured Brigade, Detmold, West Germany, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment as a company commander, tours of Northern Ireland and command of 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment.

On 1 July 1997 he assumed the appointment of Commander Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land); during this tour he commanded AFOR, the NATO-led multinational deployment to Albania to help resolve the Kosovo refugee crisis. He also negotiated the undertaking by the KLA to disarm during the closing stages of the crisis. In January 2000 he assumed the post of Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Policy) in the Ministry of Defence central staff.

In August 2001, he was appointed Chief of Joint Operations at the Permanent Joint Headquarters, Northwood. During this 3 year appointment he was the UK joint commander for all world wide UK overseas operations including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sierra Leone.

In October 2004 General Reith assumed the appointment of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He retired from this post in October 2007^[1].

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Military offices
Preceded by Admiral Sir Ian Garnett	Chief of Joint Operations 2001–2004	Succeeded by Air Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy
Preceded by Rainer Feist	Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe 2004–2007	Succeeded by General Sir John McColl