Major General  Juris Zeibārts

Major General Juris Zeibārts was born in Riga, Latvia, on 18 September 1959.

In 1982 he has graduated from the University of Latvia. He holds the master’s degree in History.

MGen Zeibārts first started his military service in 1992 as a volunteer in the National Guard. Year later he began his professional career. Since 1993 to 2011 MGen Zeibārts took numerous command posts within the National Guard - chief of staff of 25^th BN HQ, Commander of 65^th BN, Chief of Staff 4^th BDE HQ, Commander of 1^st and 3^rd Region and Commander of the National Guard. In 2011 he took the post as the Deputy Chief of Staff Operations at the Joint HQ. Since 2012 to 2016 he served as the Chief of Staff of the Joint HQ and the Deputy Chief of Defence.

Operationally MGen Zeibārts was deployed for 6 months to Afghanistan as the commander of Latvian Contingent 2010/2 in Mazar-I-Sharif.

He acquired the military education at the National Defence Academy, attended the General Staff/Admiral Staff Course at the Academy of Bundeswehr in Hamburg and Higher Command Studies Course at the Baltic Defence College.

Amongst others, MGen Zeibārts’ awards and decorations include: the Order of Viesturs (3rd grade), the Ministry of Defence Medal of Honorary Recognition and Medal of Merit for Contribution to Armed Forces Development, the Chief of Defence Award of Merit (2^nd grade).

He speaks Latvian, English, German and Russian.

MGen Zeibārts is married to Irina and has three grown-up children - 1 daughter and 2 sons.

His hobbies include reading, rafting and hiking.