David Murray (RAF officer)

Air Vice-Marshal The Hon David Paul Murray, CVO, OBE (born 1960) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as Defence Services Secretary in the Royal Household from 2010 to 2012. He is currently the Chief Executive of SSAFA.

Military career
Murray was commissioned into the Royal Air Force on 27 March 1980 in the rank of acting pilot officer.

He was promoted to pilot officer on 27 September 1980 and to flying officer on 5 July 1982.

Murray served as Station Commander RAF Halton and then at Worthy Down before becoming Garrison Commander at Winchester and then Commandant of the Defence College of Police and Personnel Administration. Murray served on operational tours in the Falkland Islands, on UN peace-keeping duties in Bosnia and Sierra Leone. He also served in Africa,Australia, Cyprus and Germany.

He became Assistant Chief of Staff Training in the RAF in 2006 and Head of Ministry of Defence Personnel Strategy and Programmes in 2009 before he was promoted to air vice marshal in 2010 and appointed as Defence Services Secretary and Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel). Murray led the Diamond Jubilee Armed Forces Parade and Muster in 2012.

He officially retired from the Royal Air Force on 21 January 2013.

Later life
In October 2012, Murray became Chief Executive of national Armed Forces charity SSAFA.

The charity has been supporting the Forces community - serving and veterans and their families - for over 125 years. As Chief Executive of SSAFA, Murray leads an organisation with an annual turnover of more than £55,000,000, that employs 900 paid staff (mainly medical professionals and social workers) and has over 7500 volunteers. This community provides practical support and assistance to more than 50,000 people each year, from D-Day veterans to young soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.

Honours and decorations
Murray was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours List and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours List. He was invested as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) for his services as Defence Services Secretary in October 2012.