"The Hurt Locker's real-life star"
So effective was he at defusing the crude, unstable but deadly devices, that terrorists on both sides of the conflict, Sunnis and Shi'ites, put a price on Chris' head. Quite apart from the danger of defusing the bombs, just getting to them was a risk, as Chris was a prime target for snipers.
Chris joined the British Army at sixteen. He was commissioned from Sandhurst, winning the much coveted Cermen Sword of Honour, and later served with a number of specialist counter terrorism units. During his career he deployed to a number of operational theatres, including The Balkans, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Afghanistan and Iraq. For his actions during his Iraq tour, he was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
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.
Since retiring from the army, Chris has worked as a counter-terrorism consultant, writer and broadcaster. 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.
Chris illustrates a gruelling journey of bravery, strength, leadership and skill where every decision made during his time in Iraq could have been his last.
The 2008 multi-award winning film The Hurt Locker was inspired by Chris' missions in Iraq.
Risk
Overcoming Adversity
Dealing with threats
Strength under pressure
Leadership in the front line
"Major Hunter's briefing was exceptionally well done, informative and timely"
FBI"Major Chris Hunter's speech went extremely well proving to be very engaging and well polished. The story is incredibly engaging and Chris is excellent at delivering it."
Permi"Chris was a great speaker and extremely interesting to listen to. He spoke of risk in a way our guys would never have thought of, and really engaged the audience. For the first time ever I don't think I saw one person reach for their blackberry in a whole hour!"
Oliver Wyman Ltd"Chris received excellent feedback from everyone who attended his session. Comments included inspirational, thought-provoking, memorable, fascinating, fabulous and entertaining. We would definitely use Chris again."
Benchmark Communications"Chris was an excellent speaker and I was totally engaged throughout. Despite having worked in such an extreme and diverse environment, his style of delivery and humour made it easy to get real learning from how to cope with pressure and keep motives to take back to the corporate world. Highly recommended"
BDO Stoy Hayward"Chris' speech captivated the whole audience, from first year apprentices up to the board of directors - meeting all objectives, the speech was interesting, engaging and motivational, highly relevant to our evening in terms of subject and content."
Augusta WestlandThe overwhelming opinion is that Chris did a great job.
The group found his topics very relevant and his presentation style very effective.
It's usually a tough audience so I think that speaks well to Chris' presentation.
I would have no hesitation to recommend Chris to any group.
Thanks for helping to make this happen.
We invited Chris Hunter to speak to our senior management team about leadership and he did a great job. The extraordinary stories that Chris shared were absolutely riveting and he delivered them with a deadpan humour and conspicuous humility that impressed everyone.
Importantly for us, he met our brief, which was to make sure that the lessons learnt would be relevant to everyone and could be taken back to the workplace. In the sessions following his presentation it was good to see everyone using his tips and terminology as reminders.
Chris even stayed on for our next session which was much appreciated. Many members of the team reported feeling inspired both by his stories and the lessons he shared.
Richard Lee, Managing Director, Jablite & StyropackI thought the guest speech from Major Chris Hunter was fantastic! One of the best speeches I have witnessed. His story was truly engaging but also had very strong links back to business themes and challenges that we work on a daily basis (i.e teamwork, working under pressure and development).
Pat Paterson, Oracle Corp.Chris Hunter was absolutely excellent, did exactly what we needed him to do, hugely impressed everybody present, and it was a really, really great evening and he was absolutely superb.. Very, very good result for us and I will certainly be back to you to hire a few more people!
William Rogers, CEO, UKRD
A dynamic and versatile speaker, Josh is able to draw upon his experience and expertise to give inf…