Maj Gen R T I Munro CBE TD VR
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets)
Maj Gen Ranald Munro joined the 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, in December 1986 and, having served for a year as a private soldier, was commissioned into the Battalion from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1988. Having served in a number of appointments at Regimental Duty he was appointed Battalion Second in Command in 1996 and subsequently attended the TA Command and Staff Course in 1997.
Promoted to Lt Col in 1998, he was posted as Chief Instructor to the London District Specialist Training Team (LDSTT).
Maj Gen Munro received his Territorial Decoration in 1999. He was awarded the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) in 2009 and Clasp in 2014.
Having completed his tour at the LDSTT, he was posted to Headquarters London District for a year as SO1 Operations and Training TA and commanded Bristol University Officers’ Training Corps between April 2002 and August 2004.
Prior to his promotion to Colonel and taking up his appointment as Col TA at the Directorate of Individual Training (Army), Maj Gen Munro served as the Chief of Military Operations (Op Law) in the Multi-National Coalition HQ’s Office of the Staff Judge Advocate in Baghdad, Iraq on OP TELIC6 between May 2005 and October 2005.
Between April 2008 and January 2009, he served as Deputy Commander 43 (Wessex) Brigade followed by a posting to the MOD as Colonel (Reserves) on the General Staff in January 2009.
On promotion to Brigadier, he became Assistant Commander of 4th Division in November 2009, and subsequently Assistant Commander Support Command upon its formation. He is a member of The Royal College of Defence Studies, having attended the 2010 course. He was appointed Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves) in October 2012 – at that time the British Army Reserve’s most senior appointment, serving until October 2015. He was awarded his CBE in 2014.
In April 2016 he was appointed Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets), a tri-service appointment – Defence’s most senior Reserve. He is a Trustee of the Airborne Forces Security Fund, Member of the Parachute Regiment Council, a previous Honorary Colonel 4 PARA, and is a Vice President (past Chairman) of The Caledonian Club in Belgravia, London. He is currently the Honorary Colonel Bristol University Officers’ Corp and Vice Chairman, Army, of Greater London Reserve Forces & Cadets Association.
Maj Gen Munro is a barrister in civilian life and is General Counsel and Company Secretary in the Financial Services industry.
He is married to Louise and they have two children. His main recreational interests are golf, tennis and flying. He is a holder of both a single engine and multi-engine fixed wing private pilot’s licence and an IMC rating, and has recently taken up Skydiving.
