John Greenacre was commissioned into the British Army in 1988 and served as a reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps in the UK, Northern Ireland, Balkans, the Gulf, Kenya, Canada, Falkland Islands and Germany before he retired in 2011. He gained his PhD in history from Leeds University in 2009 with a thesis on the development of British airborne forces. He currently lectures history at the University of Suffolk and (pandemic allowing) is an active battlefield tour guide across Europe.