Houghton retired from the British Army in July 2016, and was succeeded as CDS by Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach.

[3][4] After attending Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Houghton was commissioned into the Green Howards as a second lieutenant on 9 March 1974.

[9] Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 1991,[10] he became Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion The Green Howards in 1991[4] and was deployed to Northern Ireland in 1993.

[19] In January 2016, the government announced that Houghton would be replaced by Sir Stuart Peach as Chief of the Defence Staff in the summer of 2016.

[31] On 12 October 1993, Houghton was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "in recognition of distinguished service in Northern Ireland".

[33] In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Legion of Merit by the United States government "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services during coalition operations in Iraq".

[43] He was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps on 19 July 2008[44] and Aide-de-Camp General (ADC Gen) to The Queen on 1 October 2009.

[45] In June 2015, Houghton also received an honorary Panglima Gagah Angkatan Tentera (PGAT) award from the Deputy Minister for Defence of Malaysia.