[6] He became commanding officer of 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) in July 2003 and in that role was deployed to Iraq for Operation Telic in Summer 2004.

Towards the end of the tour, Cowan led his Battalion during Operation BRACKEN, seeing action during the Second Battle of Fallujah, for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In a leaked memo addressed to "Chaps", he stated: "Quite a few officers in the divisional mess seem to be under the impression that they can eat their food with their hands.

[14] He marked his departure from the Army with a speech to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on 21 May 2015, in which he drew on his own experience and on history to describe the nature of war.

[15] Cowan retired from the Army in 2015, and his appointment as chief executive of the international landmine clearance charity the HALO Trust, with effect from April 2015, was announced in late February 2015.

"[17] Interviewed about the clearance of the Baptism Site on the western bank of the River Jordan, Cowan described it as a project with "tremendous symbolism".