Having become aide-de-camp general to the Queen on 21 February 1991 and promoted Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1992 Birthday Honours, Inge was appointed Chief of the General Staff in February 1992 and Chief of the Defence Staff with the rank of field marshal on 15 March 1994. He served in this post, in which he provided military advice to the British government on the conduct of the Bosnian War, until he retired in 1997. He was appointed Colonel of the Green Howards in 1982, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Military Police in 1987, and Colonel Commandant of the Army Physical Training Corps in 1988.