Key Corps Personalities

WO1 (Corps ASM) Mark Lynch

Corps Artificer Sergeant Major

Enlisted into the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in August 1995. He completed his basic training at the Army Training Regiment Pirbright before arriving at the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Bordon, attending Vehicle Mechanic Phase 2 training. On completion of Phase 2 training Cfn Lynch was assigned to 38 Engineer Regiment in Ripon, North Yorkshire, a busy Regiment balancing his time between the Workshop and the gym after attending his AAPTI Course. Whilst there he also deployed to Bosnia (SFOR) and Kosovo (Op AGRICOLA) mainly in an ES capacity and deploying to Kenya to conduct civilian assistance activity as part of EX CRABAPPLE. 

In 1999 he volunteered for the All-Arms Commando Course at CTCRM Lympstone and on completion was assigned to 29 Commando Regiment in Plymouth. During this assignment he deployed as a section 2I/C during the British intervention of the Sierra-Leone civil war (Op PALLISTER), mainly tasked to defend and operate from a police station on the outskirts of the Freetown airport. 

On completion of his VM Cl1 course he remained at 29 Commando RA but was internally transferred to 7 Commando Battery located in Arbroath, Scotland. Deployments consisted of Op JACANA (Afghanistan 2001) and Op TELIC (Iraq 2003). In February 2004 he passed P-Coy in preparation for 16 Air Assault Bde and in the summer of 2004, after completing Parachute training at Brize Norton, Cpl Lynch was assigned to 13 Air Assault Regiment in Colchester. This was short lived due to being selected for Artificer training and arriving at Bordon in March 2005. 

Late September 2006, SSgt Lynch completed his Artificer training and was assigned as the Artificer for 7 Commando Battery, finding himself within weeks being deployed to Afghanistan on Op HERRICK 5 and returning for Op HERRICK 9, with frequent exercises being conducted in Norway (Octans). During his tenure he received a Commendation from the Brigade Commander for actions in Norway, as well as a Commendation from the Royal Humane Society for saving the life of a serving Soldier. 

SSgt Lynch was selected for promotion to WO2 in 2010 and was assigned to BATUS as the AQMS of BVSG (Ralston), being heavily involved in all aspects of winter repair and the exercise season taking a keen interest in Canadian life. Whilst in Canada he was the Captain of the Workshop ‘Orange Oilers’ Ice Hockey team. Fortunate to be selected for WO1 and appointed as ASM of 7 Parachute Regiment Colchester (April 2013), he was heavily involved in assurance. ASM Lynch had a brief sabbatical (2014-2017) in the oil-industry to pursue his engineering passion in the civilian engineering sector.   

After re-joining in June 2017, he was assigned to MAB7 (St Athan, Wales) as the Workshop AQMS, responsible for the ES output and capability, being heavily involved in unique projects that found him deployed overseas. In Dec 2019, after being promoted to WO1 for a second time, he took over as Brigade Artificer of 3 Commando Brigade which involved overseeing the ES capability restructure implemented as part of Future Commando Force (FCF) and capability development. He continued to self-develop by being awarded his MSc in Engineering and Management in-between deployments to Norway. He is privileged to be appointed Corps ASM and took post on 23 May 2022. He has been married to Clair for over 20 years, with 2 children Jessie and Jonah (Born 2002 and 2006 respectively).