Chapple served with the regiment in Malaya, Hong Kong and Borneo. He was promoted to captain on 9 February 1957 and to major on 9 February 1964. Appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1969 and promoted to lieutenant colonel on 31 December, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Gurkha Rifles in 1970 and made a member of the Directing Staff at the Staff College, Camberley in 1972. After spending much of the year as a services fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1973, he was posted to the Directorate of Staff Duties at the Ministry of Defence at the end of the year and, having been promoted to colonel on 31 December 1973 and to brigadier on 31 December 1975, was made Commander of the Gurkha Field Force in 1976. He became Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of the Defence Staff in 1978, and having been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1980, he became Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong on 13 June 1980, with the substantive rank of major general from 1 January 1981. He returned to the United Kingdom to be Director of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence on 19 October 1982.