David Capewell

Lieutenant General David Andrew Capewell is a senior Royal Marines officer currently serving as Chief of Joint Operations.

Military career
Capewell was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1979, holding a special short-service commission. He advanced to the local rank of lieutenant and was promoted to acting lieutenant on 1 February 1981. He completed his term of service on 15 September 1982 and began a short-career commission from the next day, retaining the rank of acting lieutenant. He was confirmed in the rank of lieutenant on 1 September 1983 (seniority from 1 February), and was transferred to a full career commission on 29 October 1985 (seniority from 1 February 1983).

As a junior officer he served in Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe and South Africa before becoming Chief of Staff of 3 Commando Brigade in 1998. He was appointed Commanding Officer of 40 Commando in March 2000 and Chief of Staff, UK Joint Force Headquarters in January 2002 in which role he served as Chief of Operations and Intelligence to the British Commander for the invasion of Iraq. He went on to be British Liaison Officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States in 2004, Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations) at Permanent Joint Headquarters in May 2005 and Commander of 3 Commando Brigade in June 2007. He was appointed OBE on 6 May 2008. Promoted to Major-General also on 6 May 2008 on his appointment as Deputy Commander NATO Rapid Deployable Corps (Italy), he then became Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) at the Ministry of Defence in August 2010 and Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters in December 2011.

Family
He is married to Deborah and has two daughters.