| Citation: | New Year Honour. 22974370 Staff Sergeant (Acting Warrant Officer Class 2) John Walter Knock, RMP. (now discharged). Close Protection Duties. RMPTC. 1971-1980.Citation: WO2 Knock has been involved in Close Protection Duties since 1971. After training by the SAS and by the Gendarmerie National he was the personal bodyguard to GOC Northern Ireland for two years. He has undertaken numerous, varied, Close Protection operations for the Ministry of Defence and for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since then. When in 1977 it became necessary for RMP to undertake more formal training in Close Protection duties, Staff Sergeant Knock, as he then was, became the principal full-time instructor in BAOR. Later it was decided that this training should be carried out at the RMP Training Centre, where Staff Sergeant Knock again became the principal instructor. At this point there were no facilities, little equipment, insufficient transport and no Course Syllabus or Programme. With enormous drive and determination Staff Sergeant Knock, without any officer directly in charge of him for long periods and often in the face of ignorance, apathy and even antipathy, created a highly effective and widely accepted Close Protection Training Wing. It now has excellent facilities, recognisably the best six week instruction programme on the subject anywhere in the world, and a small group of dedicated expert instructors who were themselves taught the WO2 Knock. His reputation with the military and civil security authorities in UK and West Germany is outstanding. All of them respect his absolute professionalism and knowledge while admiring his complete lack of selfishness or posturing. In short, the RMP Close Protection Wing which has now been formally recognised and established, and its outstanding reputation, owe everything to his efforts which demonstrate quite exceptional dedication and an amazing capacity for sheer hard work. Although he has now been promoted WO2 because of his single-mindedness he has perhaps forgone the further promotion which could have expected if he had been serving in an ordinary Provost Company. His achievements well withstand any examination and are particularly notable in that most of them were achieved while he was a Staff Sergeant. He has done far more than any WO2, let alone a Staff Sergeant, could have been expected or required to do without sting and with conspicuous success. Such achievement should be publicly acknowledged.Recommended by: Commandant, RMPTC. Lt. Gen. GOC. South East District. Gen. UKLF. |
