About
Brian Shellum is a full-time writing historian with a focus on the Buffalo Soldiers, military attachés, and military intelligence history. He retired from government service in 2015 after serving eight years as a senior intelligence officer with the Department of Defense in the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. Prior to that, he served as a government historian at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for 12 years. Shellum retired from the U.S. Army in 1994 after serving as an armor officer and West European foreign area specialist. His career highlights include various troop assignments with tank units, a tour as an army attaché in Bonn, Germany, Gulf War service with the 2nd Brigade, First Armored Division, and work as a senior political-military analyst at DIA. He lived and studied for ten years in Germany and speaks fluent German. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, holds a graduate degree from Campbell University, and studied at the University of Bonn. His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal and the Order of St. George.
Featured Work
Buffalo Soldiers in California: Charles Young and the Ninth Cavalry, 1902-1904
In Buffalo Soldiers in California, Brian G. Shellum follows the experiences of Captain Young and the Ninth Cavalry in the Golden State, from life at the Presidio and the challenges of army life in a large city to summers patrolling Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks to missions training with the California National Guard. Young's career success depended on the professionalism and dedication of his enlisted men—the backbone of the Buffalo Soldier regiments—and those men delivered. Young and that "rowdy gang of mine," as he called them, were an important part of the history of California and our national parks, as well as the broader history of the United States.
