Field Marshal Michael John Dawson Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham, (born 7 July 1944) is a retired British Army officer. Commissioned in 1966, he served in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and in a variety of staff posts in the United Kingdom until 1984. After being given command of a battalion, he was mentioned in despatches for his service during a second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, this time in Derry, and subsequently served a tour on Gibraltar. He was promoted to brigadier, unusually having never held the rank of colonel, and took command of 20th Armoured Brigade in Germany before becoming I Corps chief of staff. As a major general, Walker was appointed General Officer Commanding, Eastern District, before becoming Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff at the Ministry of Defence. He took command of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), which deployed to the Balkans in 1995, Walker becoming the first officer to command the land component of the NATO-led Implementation Force. For his service with the multi-national forces in the Balkans, he was awarded the American Legion of Merit. After relinquishing command of the ARRC, Walker spent three years as Commander in Chief, Land Command, before being appointed Chief of the General Staff—the professional head of the British Army—in 2000. In 2003, he was promoted to Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS)—the professional head of all the British Armed Forces. While CDS, Walker attracted controversy during the modernisation of the armed forces, over allegations of prisoner abuse during the Iraq War, and over comments that the media coverage of Iraq may have endangered British troops. Walker retired in 2006 and was subsequently appointed Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a post he held until 2011. He is married and has three children. Early and personal life Born in Salisbury in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) to William Hampden Dawson Walker, who was a Senior Assistant Commissioner in the British South Africa Police until 1958, and Dorothy Helena Walker (née Shiach), Walker was educated both in Southern Rhodesia and in Yorkshire, first at Milton School, Bulawayo, and then at Woodhouse Grove School, West Yorkshire. He spent 18 months teaching in a Preparatory School before joining the British Army. Walker married Victoria ("Tor", née Holme), in 1973 and the couple have three children—two sons and one daughter. He lists his interests as sailing, shooting, tennis, skiing and