In August 1984, Butler was commissioned into the
Royal Green Jackets. He was
mentioned in dispatches while on active service in
Northern Ireland in November 1991 and twice received the
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service; first for his service in the
former Republic of Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1997 and again for his service in
Sierra Leone in summer 2000. He was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order for his actions in Afghanistan as the
Commanding Officer of 22
Special Air Service during 2001 and 2002. He became Commander of
16 Air Assault Brigade in 2004, in which role he was deployed as Commander of
Task Force Helmand in April 2006. He went on to be Chief, Joint Force Operations at
Permanent Joint Headquarters in December 2006 before retiring in December 2008, citing family reasons. After leaving the
British Army Butler became Chief Executive of Corporates for Crisis (2008−11), a business providing advice for companies operating in difficult places, and then Chairman of and latterly Senior Advisor to S-RM, an intelligence and risk consulting business. In July 2019 he was interviewed for a
BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme, as Head of Risk Analysis (Chief Resilience Officer) at
Pool Re, working there until 2022. Since 2016 Butler has served as a Senior Independent Advisor to
EDF Energy Nuclear Generation, and as a Senior Advisor to
reinsurance brokers Northcourt Ltd and Gallos Technologies since 2022. ==Personal life==