Carver became a Technical Staff officer to the Ministry of Supply in 1947, and having been promoted to the substantive rank of major on 31 January 1948, he became Assistant Quartermaster-General (Plans) at Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe in May 1951 and then head of the exercise planning staff at SHAPE in October 1952. Having been promoted to lieutenant colonel on 27 March 1954 and to colonel on 17 June 1954, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff at East Africa Command in June 1954; he took part in the closing stages of the response to the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya for which he was mentioned in despatches on 19 July 1955. He was then elevated to Chief of Staff in East Africa in October 1955 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 8 March 1957. He was appointed Director of Plans at the War Office in February 1958, Commander of the 6th Brigade at Münster in January 1960 and General Officer Commanding the 3rd Division with the rank of major general on 4 September 1962. His division was deployed to Cyprus in February 1964. He was made Director of Army Staff Duties at the Ministry of Defence on 7 October 1964 and famously substantially reduced the size of the Territorial Army.