Tim Cross

Major General Timothy Cross, CBE (born 19 April 1951) is a retired British Army officer and military logistics expert.

He joined the Army Cadet Force in 1964 and, after his secondary education, was accepted to study at Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College, before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1969.

He was commissioned in 1971 into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and went on to serve in Germany, Northern Ireland and Cyprus, interspersed with staff duties and further education.

Cross started at Sandhurst in 1969 and was commissioned into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as a second lieutenant on 30 July 1971.

His first tour was in West Germany, with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in 1971, after which he undertook an in-service degree at the Royal Military College of Science.

He was promoted to lieutenant in 1973.

Having graduated as a Bachelor of Science in 1975, he served a tour with 22 Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, with responsibility for the regiment's new Rapier missiles.

Promoted to captain in 1977, he went on to train as an Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO) and was posted to Northern Ireland in 1978, where he was involved in explosive ordnance disposal along with inspection duties.

Returning to the BAOR in 1979, Cross served as Adjutant to 1 Ordnance Battalion, before a tour in Cyprus, attached to the United Nations peace-keeping force in 1981.

He studied for an MSc in guided weapons at Staff College, Camberley from 1982 to 1983 and was promoted major on 30 September 1983.

He was posted to Paris in 1984, where he was involved in the development of the MILAN anti-tank weapon, before returning to his regiment as a company commander.

Between 1984 and 1985, he was posted to Paris as a British liaison to the MILAN anti-tank missile programme, after which he rejoined 1 Ordnance Battalion as the company commander of 12 Ordnance Company.

He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 30 June 1988.

Returning to Staff College, Camberley later that year as a member of the Directing Staff, he was heavily involved in the modernisation of the Command and Staff Course.

He took command of 1 Ordnance Battalion in 1990 and was tasked with running logistics for 1st Armoured Division during the Gulf War.

In 1990, Cross returned again to Germany to take command of 1 Ordnance Battalion, in which he had previously been adjutant and a company commander, and, in a double-hatted post, was appointed Commander Supply, 1st Armoured Division.

In the latter role, he was posted to Kuwait and later Iraq, as part of Operation Granby during the Gulf War.

He went on to serve as Commander, Logistic Support for 3rd Infantry Division in 1992.

After Iraq, Cross was appointed the first Commander, Logistic Support for 3rd Infantry Division in late 1992.

During a re-organisation of the Army in 1993, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps was amalgamated to become part of the newly formed Royal Logistic Corps (RLC), into which Cross transferred and was promoted to colonel.

Cross served his first of three tours in the Balkans, attached to the Implementation Force (IFOR), in 1995–1996.

Having completed the Higher Command and Staff Course earlier in 1995, he returned to 3rd Division and served in Bosnia as part of NATO's Implementation Force in 1995 and 1996.

Cross was promoted to brigadier on 30 June 1996.

His second was in 1997, with the Stabilisation Force (SFOR), where he commanded 101 Logistic Brigade, and his third in 1999 with the Kosovo Force (KFOR).

During his tour with KFOR, he was responsible for co-ordinating multinational troops and civilian agencies in establishing refugee camps in the aftermath of the Kosovo War.

He was later appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service with KFOR.

He was appointed Director, Materiel Supply and Distribution (Army), a post which became Director, Materiel Support (Army) in 1997 as a result of re-organisation, based in Andover, Hampshire.

At the end of 1997, he took command of the British National Support Element in the Balkans, responsible for supplying the British contingent of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR).

At the same time, he commanded the Combat Service Support Group, later renamed 101 Logistic Brigade.

He returned to the UK in April 1998, only to be told that he would be returning to the Balkans in January 1999 as part of the Kosovo Force (KFOR).

In this role, he was responsible for the humanitarian effort in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, establishing and maintaining refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania.

Cross was promoted to major general (two-star rank in NATO terms) in 2000 and served as Director General, Defence Supply Chain until 2002, when he became involved in planning for the forthcoming invasion of Iraq.

He was the most senior British officer involved in the planning and in the Coalition Provisional Authority.

His last command was as General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops, Iraq.

Since retiring from the Army in 2007, Cross has been critical of the planning for Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein's government, giving evidence to the Iraq Inquiry that he urged politicians to delay the invasion, and calling the post-war planning "woefully thin".

He serves as an advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and to several private companies, and is a visiting lecturer at several British universities.

A convert to Christianity, he is a licensed lay reader in the Church of England and affiliated with several Christian organisations.

Cross is married, with three children.

Cross is the son of Sidney George and Patricia Mary Cross.

Having always wanted to be a soldier, he applied to join the Army at the age of fourteen, but was rejected due to his age.