in 2007, he returned to the united kingdom and was appointed officer commanding no. 33 squadron raf based at raf benson. this tour included a posting to iraq as part of operation telic. in june 2009, he was promoted to group captain and posted to the permanent joint headquarters as deputy assistant chief of staff. he had specific responsibility for the middle east region and global counter terrorism. in november 2011, he became commanding officer of raf shawbury, home to the defence helicopter flying school. from september to november 2013, he studied at the royal college of defence studies. in december 2013, he was appointed commandant of royal air force college cranwell, a post he held until august 2016 when he was succeeded by air commodore peter squires. promoted to air vice marshal, he was commandant of the joint services command and staff college from february 2017 to may 2019.