"Parker was awarded the American Legion of Merit "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services during coalition operations in Afghanistan" in 2007.In October 2007, he became Commander of Regional Forces at Land Command, a dual-hatted role as Inspector-General of the Territorial Army in which role he advocated for the TA and the regular Army to be regarded as a single organisation, pointing out that both face identical risks on deployment and saying "the TA soldier brings maturity and a wider understanding of the world – the end result, more so now than ever before, is the one Army and everyone should feel part of the same team".