Jean-Pierre Bosser (born 14 November 1959) is a French

Army General Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

. He was

Chief of Staff of the French Army Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

from 1 September 2014 to 31 July 2019.

Military career

Student of the

Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr The lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr (or Coldo) is one of six (formerly 'lycées militaires') of the French Ministry of Defence. Situated at Saint-Cyr-l'École (Yvelines), it occupies a particularly historic building - it succeeds the Maison royale ...

, then the

École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (, , abbr. ESM) is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ''Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre'', litera ...

(promotion Général Lasalle 1979-1981), he chose then the infantry application school at Montpellier.Biographie du général d’armée Jean-Pierre Bosser
''Ministère de la Défense'', 10 September 2014. He served in the

8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment The 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment (, 8e RPIMa) is an airborne regiment of the Troupes de Marine. The 8e RPIMa was created on 28 February 1951 and the men wear the red beret. It is part of the 11th Parachute Brigade. The regiment is ga ...

8^e RPIMa at Castres on three different occasions, as a section (platoon) chief and paratrooper instructor from 1982 to 1985, assistant officer then commandant of a company between 1986 and 1990, and finally after being nominated to

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

on 1 October 2000, in quality as a

regimental A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service, or specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one ...

commander from 2003 to 2011. Jean-Pierre Bosser was particularly renowned for becoming a paratrooper instructor, particularly at the 8th Parachute Regiment of the Troupes de marine, and participated to a dozen of exterior operations. Between 1982 and 1990, he deployed to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

at the corps of the

Multinational Force in Lebanon The Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) was an international peacekeeping force created in August 1982 following a 1981 U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel to end their involvement in the conf ...

since creation in September 1982, to

Tchad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, ...

for the launching of

Operation Manta Operation Manta was a French military intervention in Chad between 1983 and 1984, during the Chadian–Libyan conflict. The operation was prompted by the invasion of Chad by a joint force of Libyan units and Chadian Transitional Government of N ...

in 1983 then within the cadre of Opération Épervier in 1989, to

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

in 1984 and 1986, and to

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

in 1990 for the evacuation of French citizens from

Port-Gentil Port-Gentil () or Mandji is the second-largest city of Gabon, and it is a leading seaport. It is the center of Gabon's petroleum and timber industries. The city is located on a delta island in the Ogooue delta. Nearby Cape Lopez is Gabon's weste ...

. He also conducted simultaneously a technical military assistance mission for one year as a counselor of the para-commando battalion of

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

in 1985. From 1990 to 1992, he occupied the post of chief of the operational center of the inter-arm general staff headquarters of the superior commandment of the New Caledonian Armed Forces (FANC). He was then engaged at the head of his regiment in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

within the cadre of Operation Trident in 2002, then

to open Operation Boali in 2003. Brevetted at the École de guerre in 1996, he served for five years at the bureau « études générales » of the Directorate of Military Personnel of the French Army (DPMAT) before assuming the command of the 8^e RPIMa. Then, from 2003 till 2005, he was designated as director of the student formations (DFE) of Écoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan ESCC. He joined again the DPMAT in quality as a bureau chief « Arme de mêlée », then bureau chief « études générales ». Nominated to Général de brigade on 1 August 2007, he became the assistant to the deputy chief of the general staff headquarters « ressources humaines » at the general staff headquarters of the French Army where he was confined with the functions of deputy chief of the general staff headquarters « performance-synthèse ». Elevated to the rank designation of général de corps d’armée, he became on 29 November 2012, the director of the Protection and Defense Security Directorate

DPSD DRSD is the abbreviation of ''Direction du Renseignement et de la Sécurité de la Défense'' (, ), a French security agency which is part of the Ministry of Armed Forces. It was established on 10 October 2016 out of the Directorate for Defense ...

, while being responsible for one of the French Military Intelligence Subsidiaries. On 9 July 2014, he was nominated by the Council of Ministers

CEMAT, the highest function in the chain of command of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

. He assumed this post responsibility on 1 September 2014 along with the rank elevation designation of

Général d'armée is the French word for general. There are two main categories of generals: the general officers (), which are the highest-ranking commanding officers in the armed forces, and the specialist officers with flag rank (), which are high-level offic ...

Military ranks

Honours and decorations

Jean-Pierre Bosser is an Honorary Corporal (bestowed) of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosser, Jean-Pierre 1959 births Living people Chiefs of the Staff of the French Army French generals École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Cross for Military Valour Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Commanders of the Legion of Merit 20th-century French military personnel 21st-century French military personnel

Military career

Military ranks

Honours and decorations

See also

Notes and references