Chris Bell

Major General Christopher James Bell, is a former British Army officer. Bell served in both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. Military career After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in geography Bell was commissioned into the Scots Guards, alongside Ben Wallace, later the UK Defence Secretary. Bell's military career began with active service tours and public service. His Northern Irish service led to his promotion to Platoon Commander, Company Second-in-Command, Adjutant and Officer Commanding. His public duties involved acting as an Ensign at Queen Elizabeth II's 1997 birthday parade. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 where he took part in Operation Telic. Afghanistan At the age of 35 he commanded a Mechanized battalion during the Battle of Musa Qala in Helmand Province. Speaking subsequently to the investigative journalist Stephen Grey, Bell recalled the situation being "in a pretty bad way" on their arrival, British positions being under heavy mortar and rocket fire, while the locals lived in the desert only briefly entering the town. Bell "began to plan ambushes" in response, although these never came to fruition before his company was moved on. Grey reports that Bell measured his success in Hellmund by the extent to which the population returned to a semblance of normality; "that was his own way of measuring their results 'rather than by killing'". In November 2007, Bell led his company of Warriors as part of the mission to rescue Abdul Salaam Alizai, a former Taliban commander who required protection prior to defecting to the Afghan government later in the month, although at the time Bell had personal doubts as to the usefulness of their objective. His company maintained pressure to the east of Musa Qala which was "having an effect" in spite of the resurgent Taliban, who called Bell's company the "Desert Devils". By now, Bell had recognised the degree to which their American colleagues had improved in skills and tactics. Whereas a few years earlier, Bell suggests, the British were assumed to have learned lessons in urban warfare from multiple historical campaigns, such as The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which would suit them well in Helmand, unlike the inexperienced American forces. By the time of Operation Snakebite, however, Bell saw that US forces "were now, if anything, more attuned and adapted to winning counter-insurgency.