The LGBT+ Military CharityWHO WE ARE

Roly Woods was appointed by Fighting With Pride to the important role of LGBT Armed Forces Community Memorial Officer in August 2024, having recently retired as a Commander in the Royal Navy following 46 years service.

Having served for over 20 years under the ban on LGBT service, and for 24  years since it was lifted, he is very familiar with many of the issues faced by the LGBT veteran community and is also well placed to represent the views of the serving LGBT community.  His recent experience as a Trustee at Fighting With Pride has also given him a great insight into the importance the community places on the Memorial project.

His most recent military role was as the Fleet Security Officer at the Maritime Operations Centre at Northwood Headquarters, from where Royal Navy deployments world-wide are controlled.

Soon after completing basic training he saw active service in the Falklands campaign, following the Argentine invasion in 1982. After appointments in frigates and destroyers and operational deployments to the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, he took command of the minesweeper HMS BLACKWATER in 1986, as the youngest Commanding Officer in the Royal Navy at the time.

After assignments as a Principal Warfare Officer in some of the Royal Navy’s newest warships, he was appointed as Executive Officer and second in command of the Queen’s Frigate HMS LANCASTER, returning to the Falkland Islands and completing a circumnavigation of South America. On promotion to Commander he joined the operational staff of Commander in Chief Fleet and from there moved to the Ministry of Defence in London, including duties as the Defence Attaché to Tunis and Algiers.

Following his MOD job, he spent 4 years attached to the British Embassy in Washington DC, before returning to London as the senior duty officer in the 24/7 Situation Centre. After a few months in retirement, he re-joined Navy operations in 2012 as a full-time reservist in the Fleet Security Officer role. Here he was responsible for ship security in high threat regions world-wide, based in Navy operations at the Maritime Operations Centre at Northwood Headquarters, from where Royal Navy deployments world-wide are controlled.

A passionate supporter of FWP, he lives in Brighton on the South Coast (well……Hove actually!).