Senior Officer Biography
BRIGADIER-GENERAL SELBIE J.J. , OMM, CD
DIRECTOR OF STAFF, SHAPE
Brigadier-General James Selbie commenced his military service in 1973 as an army reservist in 26th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery.
He received a Queen's Commission in the regular component of The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery in 1978 upon his graduation from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Regimental duty as a junior officer was spent in 3rd Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo during which time he twice deployed with the Canadian contingent of the United Nations Force in Cyprus. As a Major, he commanded Z Battery, 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery with Canada's NATO Brigade Group in Germany from 1986-88. Qualified as both a field and air defence artillery officer, he served as Commandant of the Air Defence Artillery School from 1992-94.
Brigadier General Selbie has held a variety of staff appointments at Land Force, National Defence, army corps and deployed operational headquarters including Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (2002), Chief of Staff of the National Command Element Canadian Joint Task Force South West Asia (Operation APOLLO) (2001-02); Assistant Chief of Staff Training and Exercise Planning (G7) HQ NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Turkey in Istanbul (2002-06); and, Deputy Chief of Staff HQ International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan (2005).
He also served as Commander of Canadian Forces Base Shilo (1996-97); the Canadian Contingent of the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia Herzegovina (1997); and 1 Area Support Group/Edmonton Garrison (1997-2000).
He was promoted Brigadier-General and appointed Director of Staff at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium in January 2007.
Brigadier-General Selbie holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Politics) from the Royal Military College (1978) and a Master of Strategic Studies Degree from the US Army War College (2001). He is also a graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College (1985) and the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College (1989)
He was appointed to the Order of Military Merit in 2002 and, in 2005, was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal for his service with HQ ISAF.
