Mike Jackson (born 1944) is a retired British Army officer and one of its most high-profile generals since the Second World War. Originally commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1963, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment. On the first of his tours of duty in Northern Ireland with the regiment, he was present as an adjutant at the events of Bloody Sunday (1972), when soldiers opened fire on protesters, killing 13 people. He was assigned to a staff post at the Ministry of Defence in 1982 before assuming command of the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, in 1984. Jackson served his first tour in the Balkans in 1994, commanding a multi-national division of the Implementation Force, and was appointed commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 1997. In this role, he controversially refused to obey an order from American General Wesley Clark (his immediate superior in the NATO chain of command during the Kosovo War) to block the runways of Pristina Airport. Upon his return to the UK, Jackson was promoted to full general and later served as Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, from 2003 to 2006.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1602:
The Dutch East India Company—the first company to issue stock, one of the first multinational corporations, and possibly the first megacorporation—was established. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
1815:
After escaping from exile in Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris, officially beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days
1854:
At a meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, US, an anti-slavery political party decided to name itself the Republican Party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)
1944:
World War II: Four thousand U.S. Marines made a landing on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago to develop an airbase as part of Operation Cartwheel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_on_Emirau
2006:
Cyclone Larry made landfall in Far North Queensland, eventually causing nearly AU$1 billion in total damage and destroying over 80 percent of Australia's banana crop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Larry
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
forethoughtful: Having or full of forethought; provident; proactive; visionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forethoughtful
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The trees are cloth'd with leaves, the fields with grass; The blossoms blow; the birds on bushes sing; And Nature has accomplish'd all the Spring. as translated by --John Dryden https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dryden
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