Entering the RAF as an aircraftman, Bagwell was commissioned an acting pilot officer on 24 July 1981, with the service number 8027917 into the General Duties (Flying) Branch.

[2] He was promoted to flying officer on 24 July 1983 and to flight lieutenant on 24 January 1987.

[7][5] Promoted to group captain on 1 July 2001, he went on to be Coalition Air Operations Chief at the Al Udeid Coalition Air Operations Centre in 2004 and then Station Commander of RAF Marham later that year.

[5][8] Achieving air officer rank on 1 July 2006 with a promotion to air commodore, Bagwell served as Assistant Chief of Staff, Crisis & Deliberate Planning at Permanent Joint Headquarters.

1 Group in 2009 in the rank of air vice - marshal, in which capacity he was deployed as the UK's Joint Force Air Component Commander for operations over Libya (Operation Ellamy).