Craig Lawrence is an author, military historian and lecturer in strategy and strategic leadership. He was commissioned into the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) in September 1984 with thirty years since then either serving with Gurkhas or filling a variety of appointments in various military headquarters, including the Ministry of Defence. He commanded his Gurkha battalion on operations in the Balkans and the Ivory Coast and, most recently, spent eleven months in Afghanistan as the Director of ISAF's Election Support Cell, reducing risk to Afghanistan's 2014 Presidential and Provincial Elections. On retirement he took up post in London at the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), where he is the Course Director.