Chris Hunter

About

Chris has been described as having the world’s most dangerous job, in the world’s most dangerous place. As the British Army’s most experienced counter-terrorist bomb disposal specialist in Iraq, he took his life in his hands on a daily basis.

Chris Hunter (Major Chris Hunter QGM) joined the British Army at 16, and trained as a Russian linguist and intelligence operator. Shortly afterwards, he was commissioned from Sandhurst and re-trained as a bomb disposal operator, after which he served with a number of Special Forces units.

Chris rounded off his military career as a senior intelligence analyst at the Ministry of Defence. At the time of the London suicide bombings, he was seconded to COBRA, the Cabinet Office’s emergency response committee.

As an operator he deployed on two high-threat tours in Northern Ireland and one in Iraq, undertook EOD protection duties for the Royal Family and assisted in the planning and conduct of numerous police arrest operations involving the threat of explosive devices. He was also the designated technical Operations Officer for the national contingency response to the terrorist use of a weapon of mass destruction in the UK.

For his actions in Iraq Major Chris Hunter was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal. He retired from the MoD in January 2007 as the MoD’s senior IED intelligence analyst and has since become a writer, broadcaster and the director of a counter-IED consultancy company. Chris is also a Fellow of the Institute of Explosives Engineers, a Member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators and a regular contributor to television and radio news and current affairs programmes.

His memoir, Eight Lives Down, tells the harrowing story of his experiences in Iraq. He is a regular contributor to television and radio news and current affairs programmes.

He is also a supporter of the charity BLESMA for which he trained to run a marathon while wearing a complete bomb disposal suit, completing it in 6hrs 56m.

Chris Hunter is renowned for his passionate and enthralling motivational speeches. He illustrates a gruelling journey of bravery, strength, leadership and skill where every decision made during his time in Iraq could have been his last.