Simon Mayall

Sir Simon Mayall
Simon Mayall in Hohenfels, Germany in 2008
Born	7 March 1956
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1979 – 2015
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards 1st Mechanised Brigade
Battles/wars	Gulf War Kosovo War Iraq War War in Afghanistan
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath

Lieutenant General Sir Simon Vincent Mayall KBE, CB (born 7 March 1956) is a retired British Army officer and a Middle East Adviser at the Ministry of Defence.

Mayall was educated at St George's College, Weybridge, Balliol College, Oxford (BA Modern History, 1979) and King's College London (MA International Relations).

Mayall was commissioned into the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars in 1979. From 1985 to 1988 he was seconded to the Sultan of Oman's Land Forces. He was operations officer for 1st Armoured Division in the first Gulf War. After that he completed a Defence Fellowship at St Antony's College, Oxford studying Turkish security policy. He then became Commanding Officer of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards in 1997 in which capacity he was deployed to the British Army Training Unit Suffield and to Northern Ireland.

In 2001 Mayall became Commander of 1st Mechanised Brigade which was subsequently deployed to Kosovo. He was the Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps – Iraq in late 2006 and early 2007. He was appointed Assistant Chief of the General Staff in January 2007 and in 2009 became Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations). He was made Defence Senior Advisor Middle East at the Ministry of Defence in May 2011. He was replaced in that role by Lieutenant General Tom Beckett in late 2014.