Richard Stanford

Major General Richard James Aethelstan Stanford, (born 1966) is a retired senior British Army officer who served as General Officer Commanding Support Command from 2015 to 2017. Early life and education Stanford was born in 1966 in Luton, England. He joined the British Army after finishing school, and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for officer training. He later attended Cranfield University, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1999, and studied with the Open University, completing a Master of Business Administration degree in 2003. Career Military career Stanford was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1987, and saw active service during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, for which he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in October 1993. He went on to become commanding officer of the 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards, in which capacity he was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina on peace keeping duties in 2006. He was the Field Officer in Brigade Waiting and commanded the parade in Trooping the Colour 2007.