Tim Cross
Major General Timothy Cross, CBE (born 19 April 1951) is a retired British Army officer and military logistics expert. 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. 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. He took command of 1 Ordnance Battalion in 1990 and was tasked with running logistics for 1st Armoured Division during the Gulf War. He went on to serve as Commander, Logistic Support for 3rd Infantry Division in 1992. Cross served his first of three tours in the Balkans, attached to the Implementation Force (IFOR), in 1995–1996. 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. 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. Early life 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. 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. Early military career 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