Lieutenant-General Sir James Dutton KCB CBE
Jim Dutton was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1972. After standard junior officer appointments and three consecutive communication jobs (he was Signals Officer of 40 Commando on Op Corporate), interspersed with staff training, he commanded 40 Commando from 1996-8, deploying for extended exercises in South East Asia and South Africa.
On promotion to Brigadier he was appointed as Director NATO Policy in the MOD, responsible for NATO and Western European security policy. Following this he attended the 2001 course at the Royal College of Defence Studies; after the terrorist attacks in the USA in September, he was sent to Washington DC as their Chief of Defence Staff’s liaison officer to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon.
He commanded 3 Commando Brigade from July 2002 to May 2004. 2003 was dominated by operations in Iraq. In 2004 he was promoted to Major General and appointed as Commander UK Amphibious Forces and Commandant General Royal Marines (CGRM). He returned to Iraq in 2005 to command the Multinational Division (SE), based in Basra. Handing over as CGRM in June 2006 he spent a short time as COS (Capability) in the Fleet HQ. In February 2007 he was appointed as COS (Operations) in the UK’s Permanent Joint HQ.
Promoted to Lieutenant General in October 2008, he was appointed as Deputy Commander of the International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan from November 2008 to November 2009.
Retiring from the Royal Marines in May 2010, he joined Bechtel (US engineering and construction firm) as the Operations Manager for their Infrastructure and Aviation business.
He was appointed CBE in late 2003 and KCB in the 2010 Birthday Honours.
He is married to Liz. Their son is a serving Royal Marine officer and they also have a grown up daughter.