Lieutenant General Jez Bennett studied at RGS High Wycombe with little distinction, but having a lot of fun. He then spent four years at Liverpool & Bordeaux Universities studying french and playing rugby before attending Sandhurst. Commissioning into the Gunners, he served initially in 3RHA and completed a tour of Bosnia as a Forward Observation Officer, before returning to Sandhurst as a platoon commander.
Two years at staff college resulted in two masters degrees and led to a tour in the Resources & Plans area of the Ministry of Defence. He then returned to the more upbeat world of regimental duty with 1RHA in 2005. This included a UN tour in Cyprus and then to Iraq on Op TELIC 10 in 2007 in the infantry role. A further tour at Sandhurst as a company commander led to a tour in Army HQ Commitments (now ADOC), force generating brigades deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.
His command of 1RHA focused on leading the 11 Brigade Joint Fires and ISTAR Group in Afghanistan in 2009/10, and he was appointed OBE for his time as CO. He then moved to Army Resources and Plans in MOD as Colonel Army Plans in 2011, and was selected to be the first commander of 1st Artillery Brigade and HQ South West in 2014, having completed HCSC. Appointed CBE for his time at brigade command, he returned to London in April 2016 as Head of Capability Plans, in the Finance and Military Capability (FMC) area of the MOD.
He was delighted to take on the role of Chief of Staff HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in Dec 2018 as ARRC transitioned to the new NATO corps warfighting role. He also became the first regimental Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery, acting as the Master Gunner's link to the serving Regiment. From August 2019 to September 2021 he held the role of Director of Capability for the British Army, playing a role in the Integrated Defence and Security Review of that period. In September 2021, he became Deputy Commander, NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy as it transitioned into the JTF HQ role. In October 2024 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and became the Deputy Commander of NATO's Allied Land Command in Izmir, Türkiye.
Married to Sara, who works as a management accountant, they have a daughter called Grace, who is "studying" at university. He remains a big cricket and rugby union fan and still plays cricket occasionally for the Royal Artillery CC. He also is chairman of the Army Rugby Union, vice president of Army Cricket, and is the first snowboarder to be Director of the Inter Services Snowsports Competition.