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Meet the judges: Major General Tom Bewick 

Major General Tom Bewick OBE

Major General Tom Bewick is the General Officer Commanding the Army’s Recruiting and Initial Training Command. He is responsible for Army recruiting, working alongside Capita (the Army’s commercial recruiting partner), and training all new soldiers. Alongside this he is also Assistant Colonel Commandant of the RIFLES, representing the RIFLES at both military and civilian engagements such as Remembrance Sunday and Trooping the Colour.

Major General Tom Bewick grew up in Devon, was educated at Churston Grammar School and studied naval architecture at University College London. He worked in industry as a naval architect before joining Sandhurst in 1996, commissioning into the Light Infantry. As a young officer he was based in Cyprus, Edinburgh and Germany and served on operational tours of Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone.

As a Captain he deployed to Iraq on Op TELIC 3 as the lead operational planner for his Infantry Unit. He subsequently served on 3 tours of Afghanistan; on Op HERRICK 9 as a Company Commander where he was awarded a Queens Commendation for Valuable Service (QCVS); on Op HERRICK 12 as the Chief of Staff of 4 Mechanized Brigade where he was awarded an MBE and on Op HERRICK 18 as the Commanding Officer of 4 RIFLES, where he was awarded his OBE. He commanded 7 Infantry Brigade (The Desert Rats), deploying soldiers on operations across West Africa before switching to supporting the nations response to COVID across the East of England.

In between his Command positions he has worked in a multitude of staff jobs, both at Defence’s joint operational headquarters in Northwood and in the Ministry of Defence in London, most latterly as the Army’s Head of Army Strategy. Academically he has attended the Army’s Intermediate Command and Staff Course, the Advanced Command and Staff Course, the Higher Command and Staff Course and the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Maj General Bewick is married to Milla and has four children aged between 14 and 3.