UK MOD © Crown copyright 2023
THE UK & NATO: A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
AUTHORS Major General John Mead, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans, Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
MAJOR GENERAL M PULLAN CBE
H
ISTORY doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.1 A story of Britain and NATO in a sentence could be summarised as: 1949 founding member; Cold War; ‘end of history’ and peace dividend; 9/11 and forever wars; 2014 ‘return of history’; 2022 strategic shock – not ready. And so, as NATO approaches its 75th anniversary this spring, there is a sense of history rhyming in terms of threat, Major General Mark Pullan was born in 1971 and educated at the John Hampden Grammar and the choices for Britain. In uncertainties School, Buckinghamshire before spending six years studying architecture at Hull University. He commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into the Royal Artillery 1996. for its first two years – NATO 1949 –inand His early career is marked by a regular operational drumbeat consisting was of Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq headquartered in Belgrave Square, interspersed with numerous training opportunities in Germany, Poland and Canada. After an initial staff appointment within the Defence Procurement Agency, he was selected for Battery Command London and although much has changed, we at 19th Regiment Royal Artillery, which included further operational tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. A tour in the J3 Division of PJHQ followed, allowing him to remain operationally on network and global ambitions, retainfocussed a global Afghanistan whilst being charged with improving in-theatre operational capability. Selected as we again remain a natural conduit between the Second in Command of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, he deployed once to Afghanistan, this time as the Chief of Staff of the Joint Fires and ISTAR Group. US and Europe and, we would argue, need
Major General Mark Pullan, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans, Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum.
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On promotion and completion of the Advanced Command and Staff Course he was posted to Army Resources and Plans in the Ministry of Defence as SO1 Army Plans, where he was responsible for the development of Strategic Policy and Army Structures. He was then selected to command 16th Regiment Royal Artillery. His time in command consisted of out of role deployments THE BRITISH REVIEW to Afghanistan, whilstARMY concurrently delivering the enduring Falkland Islands standing commitment. On promotion to Colonel he was selected as the lead for all Joint Effects capability development within Army HQ and became responsible for the delivery of several high profile equipment
NATO more than ever. This short article will therefore take the key lessons from regional planning and the warfighting changes underway in NATO’s Command Structure to posit the UK’s place in the Alliance is ‘not in the bag’ yet and now is the time for boldness. We will make some recommendations along the way; ‘how much NATO?’2 is a strategic choice for the Army, as well as Defence. With two gunner generals as architects for two of the three NATO operational level regional A quote often, but probably incorrectly, attributed to Mark Twain.
1
The current Chairman of the Military Committee’s challenge to a joint MC/JFCNP forum on RP-SE.
2
SPRING 2024
