Ireland. Later that year he became the officer in charge of the regimental training cadre at Fulford Barracks in Fulford, North Yorkshire, where he became friends with Bernard Montgomery, who was a staff officer with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division at the time. The two played golf and contract bridge together. Montgomery encouraged de Guingand to apply for staff college, but he was still too young to sit the entrance examination. In 1926 de Guingand volunteered for service on secondment with the King's African Rifles. Overseas postings to colonial units were a popular option for young subalterns at the time, as they offered higher pay, greater responsibility, and occasional excitement. He served in Nyasaland as adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Kings African Rifles, and then on the staff of the Officer Commanding Troops, Nyasaland. During this time he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 10 June 1929, and to the permanent rank on 8 March 1930. De Guingand returned to his regiment in the UK in October 1931. He was appointed regimental adjutant with the 1st Battalion in Egypt in July 1932. He renewed his friendship with Montgomery, who commanded the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, another battalion in the Canal Brigade. In 1934, the battalion moved on to Quetta in the Baluchistan Province of British India near the border with Afghanistan, where Montgomery was teaching as an instructor at the staff college there. De Guingand passed the entrance exams to attend the Staff College, Camberley but required a nomination from a senior officer. Entry was highly competitive; about 600 officers sat the examination each year for around 60 places. Those who scored highest were guaranteed places, but the remaining positions were filled from others who had passed the exam and were then given a place based on their service record. Montgomery arranged for a nomination from the Chief of the General Staff (India). He also wrote to several of the instructors at Camberley recommending him. After passing the staff college course in 1936, De Guingand returned to the 2nd Battalion of his regiment as a company commander but a staff assignment normally followed completion of the course. His next assignment was brigade major of the Small Arms School at Netheravon in 1937. This gave him a chance to visit the corresponding schools of the French and German armies. He was not impressed by the dilapidated