Garrison Commander says farewell 13.04.12
30After 40 years in the Army Lieutenant Colonel Bob Pickford has finally put his military life behind him.
The colourful soldier from County Durham has been the station commander of Episkopi Garrison in Cyprus for the last three years and will be retiring to the island with his wife Angie.
Bob was only fifteen when he joined up in September 1972.
Today he wears the rank slide of a Lieutenant Colonel -- something he claims he never thought he would attain 'in his wildest dreams.'
One of the highlights was being posted to the UK as an instructor at Sandhurst.
In those 40 years Bob has seen a lot of change - in 1972 much of the operational effort was focused on restoring law and order in Northern Ireland.
Now, Afghanistan commands all the attention and Bob has been instrumental in improving the decompression facilities on island for returning soldiers.
Aside from his passion for golf, there are two other areas that have defined his last three years - the regeneration of Dodge City as the heart of Episkopi Garrison and the introduction of Veterans Passes, one of which he has now had to apply for himself.
Throughout all this, his wife Angie has been at his side - a former nurse in the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, the pair were both private soldiers when she literally pulled Bob out of a gutter in Hong Kong.
Bob's loyalty to his troops, his regiment The Rifles, his garrison and his own character has won him a lot of fans in life.