Thomas Antonius Middendorp (born 6 September 1960) is a retired

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

of the Royal Netherlands Army. He served as Chief of Defence of the Armed forces of the Netherlands from 28 June 2012 until 3 October 2017. He previously served as the Commander of Task Force Uruzgan part of the

International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

from 2 February 2009 until 3 August 2009.

Early life

Thomas Middendorp was born on 6 September 1960 in

Rheden Rheden () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. Population centres Population of the seven villages on 1 January 2013 Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Rheden, June 2015'' Transportation * Railway ...

in the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

Military career

Middendorp joined the Dutch Army in 1979, attending officers training at the

Koninklijke Militaire Academie The Royal Military Academy ( nl, Koninklijke Militaire Academie or ''KMA'') is the service academy for the Dutch Army, the Dutch Air Force and the Royal Marechaussee. Located in Breda, Southern Netherlands, the KMA has trained future office ...

in Breda. Opting to join the Engineering Corps, he followed up his academy training with an additional one-year course at the Engineering Training Centre in

Vught Vught () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, and lies just south of the industrial and administrative centre of 's-Hertogenbosch. Many commuters live in the municipality, and the town of Vught was once named "Best place to liv ...

. Having completed his training, Middendorp was posted to Ermelo in 1984 where he was given command of an armored engineering unit. He held this command for two years, after which (in 1986) he was transferred to Breda. He was posted to the Defence Real Estate Management Agency regional directorate as head of the project management agency. In 1989 he was transferred to the Dutch Army base in Seedorf, where he assumed the command of the B company, 41st Engineering

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

. From 1992 to 1994 Middendorp attended Command School : ''Hogere Militaire Vorming''. Following this training he was posted to the Army staff and put in charge of developing and implementing new real estate management policy in light of the deactivation of the Dutch

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

. Completing this posting Middendorp attended the

United States Army Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

starting in 1996. In 1997 Middendorp was assigned the post of military assistant to the Deputy Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff. Following this posting he was reassigned to

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

in 1999, as chief of the National Planning Bureau for the I. German/Dutch Corps. He held this post until 2001, when he was given command of the 101 Engineering

Wezep Wezep is a town in the municipality of Oldebroek, Netherlands. Located in the province of Gelderland, it had about 13,500 inhabitants in 2012.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005. The Wezep railway station, ...

. As first commander of this battalion he was responsible for setting up the battalion and during the next 2.5 years commanded it through missions in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Following this command, Middendorp was promoted to

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military 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 colonel was typically in charge o ...

and posted to the Ministry of Defence as policy coordinator for the Chief Director of General Affairs. In this posting he advised the minister of defence on national deployment of the armed forces and established several cooperation agreements between the Ministry of Defence and other ministries. Towards the end of 2006, Middendorp was posted overseas for his first tour in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, as Senior Political Advisor and Deputy NATO Senior Civil Representative (SCR). Mid-2007 he did a short stint with the Dutch Army Command as head of the Command Support Department; he was given command of the 13th Mechanised Brigade in

Oirschot Oirschot (; ''Orskot'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is situated from the city of Eindhoven and from the city of Tilburg in the province North Brabant (Noord-Brabant). The municipality ha ...

on 11 January 2008. He was posted back to

in February 2009 as commanding officer of the multinational Task Force Uruzgan (TFU6, specifically). Returning to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

he was promoted to Major-General in August 2009, and was appointed Director of Operations of the Royal Netherlands Defence Staff on 24 December. Koning en strijdkrachten-1

The Minister of Defence announced Middendorp's selection as next Chief of Defence on 28 September 2011. In preparation for his new role, Middendorp was promoted

Lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

on 1 January 2012 and placed in charge of projects and operations at the Defence Staff. He was promoted

Four-star general A four-star rank is the rank of any four-star officer described by the NATO OF-9 code. Four-star officers are often the most senior commanders in the armed services, having ranks such as (full) admiral, (full) general, colonel general, army ge ...

on 28 June 2012, the date on which general Peter van Uhm transferred command of the Netherlands Defence Staff to him. On 28 February 2017 Middendorp was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He was invested by the

Governor General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Sir Peter Cosgrove General (Australia), General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, ...

. On 11 January 2018 King

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess B ...

appointed Middendorp as adjutant in extraordinary service of the King.

Resignation

Middendorp resigned on 3 October 2017 following the publication of a critical report into the death of two Dutch soldiers in a training accident in Mali and the resignation of

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq since 1 November 2018. She is a member of t ...

Lieutenant admiral Lieutenant admiral () is a senior naval military rank in the Royal Netherlands Navy. The rank is a four-star rank, senior to a vice-admiral () and equivalent to admiral in most foreign navies. It is used whenever the Dutch Chief of Defence is fro ...

Rob Bauer Robert Peter Bauer (born 11 November 1962) is an Lieutenant admiral in the Royal Netherlands Navy, currently serving as the Chair of the NATO Military Committee since June 2021. He previously served as Chief of Defence (Dutch: ''Commandant der S ...

took on as Chief of Defence.

References

External links

;Official * {{DEFAULTSORT:Middendorp, Tom 1960 births Living people Chiefs of Defence (Netherlands) Dutch expatriates in Germany Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch military personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Graduates of the Koninklijke Militaire Academie Royal Netherlands Army generals Royal Netherlands Army officers People from Rheden Honorary Officers of the Order of Australia