Garwood graduated from
King's College London with a
Master of Arts in Defence Studies. He was commissioned in 1979, being regraded on completion of Initial Officer Training and promoted to flying officer during his flying training, on completion of which he was posted to
No. 41(F) Squadron at
RAF Coltishall to fly the
Jaguar combat aircraft in the ground attack/reconnaissance role. In 1985 Garwood was promoted to flight lieutenant and moved to the Tactical Weapons Unit at
RAF Brawdy to instruct students on the
Hawk training aircraft, becoming a
Qualified Weapons Instructor. to
No. II (Army Cooperation) Squadron at
RAF Laarbruch in
West Germany, being deployed to
Saudi Arabia shortly after his arrival, for
Operation Granby. In 1993, Garwood moved to the
Ministry of Defence as a staff officer in Operational Requirements (Air) and then, in 1995, attended the
Army Staff College at
Camberley. and returned to II (AC) Squadron, now at
RAF Marham, as its
commanding officer. His time in command included many detachments to patrol the
no-fly zones over Iraq. This was followed by a staff appointment at the
Permanent Joint Headquarters at
Northwood. in 2000 Garwood returned to Marham as Station Commander, this tour including deployment to East Africa as Commander British Forces during Operation Ramson, carrying out air operations over the
Horn of Africa in support of
Operation Veritas in Afghanistan; Garwood attended the
Royal College of Defence Studies in 2003 before deploying to Qatar to become the first post-combat phase Air Component Commander for
Operation Telic in Iraq. In that year he returned to the Ministry of Defence as Director of Air Staff, completing the
Higher Command and Staff Course as part of his tour. returning in July of that year to the appointment of Air officer commanding
No. 22 (Training) Group (and the concurrent appointment of Chief of Staff Training) in the rank of air vice marshal. In July 2009 Garwood was appointed Chief of Staff Operations at Air Command and then, in April 2010, Acting Deputy Commander-in-Chief Operations following the reassignment of Air Marshal
Tim Anderson – who was due to take up the appointment – to set up the
Military Aviation Authority. Garwood was due to hand over this appointment to Air Marshal
Andrew Pulford in September but the sudden death of the then Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir
Christopher Moran, resulted in Pulford in turn being reassigned, and Garwood's promotion to
air marshal in June to take on the role on a permanent basis. In the same month Garwood was appointed a
Companion of the Order of the Bath. Garwood became Director-General of the
Military Aviation Authority on 1 May 2013. As of 2015, Garwood was paid a salary of between £155,000 and £159,999 by the department, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. He became Director-General of the
Defence Safety Authority in April 2015. Garwood retired in September 2017. Already
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Garwood was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours. ==References==