Peter van Uhm General Petrus Johannes Mathias " Peter " van Uhm ( born July 15 , 1955 in Nijmegen ) is a retired four - star general in the Royal Netherlands Army and ex Chief of Defence ( CHOD ) . He was promoted to this position from Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army ( C - LAS ) and succeeded Dick Berlijn on April 17 , 2008 . Biography . Van Uhm was born in 1955 in the Dutch city of Nijmegen , the son of a baker . He is the elder brother of Marc van Uhm , who is also a general in the Royal Netherlands Army . He was first attracted to a career in the army in high school , where he heard stories about the liberation of Nijmegen in 1944 . He enrolled at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Breda in 1972 , attending the Infantry officer training course . He completed his training within the required four years and was posted to the 48th Mechanised Infantry Battalion in ' s - Hertogenbosch in 1976 . He served there until 1982 , with a short break in 1978 during which he served as a platoon commander at the Royal Military School in Weert . In 1982 van Uhm was reassigned to the 43rd Mechanised Infantry Battalion as a Company Commander for Company A ; he was deployed to Lebanon in this role in 1983 as part of the UNIFIL mission . Returning to The Netherlands a captain , he was posted the 48th Armoured Infantry Battalion for a short stint . From 1984 to 1986 van Uhm attended the Staff Service and Advanced Military Studies courses at the Royal Netherlands Army Staff College at The Hague . Following this ( and a promotion to major ) he was assigned to the First Division staff as deputy Head of Operations . He then held the position of Head of the Training Policy Office at the Royal Netherlands Army Staff and ( following promotion to lieutenant - colonel ) , Head of the Training Section . In 1991 van Uhm spent some time working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a liaison officer , aiding in the preparation of the European Community Monitoring Mission ( ECMM ) . Following that he served as head of the Plans Division at the staff of Dutch First Corps . In 1994 , following the creation of the Dutch 11th Infantry Battalion Air Assault Brigade , van Uhm was appointed Battalion Commander of their Grenadiers and Rifles Guards . He served there for a year , until his promotion to full colonel in 1995 , when he was transferred to the Personal Office of the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army , as Head of the Office . He then served as Head of the General Policy Division of the Army Staff and then as Head of the Military - Strategic Affairs Division of the Defense Staff . At the turn of the millennium van Uhm , then a brigadier general , was assigned to headquarters of the Stabilisation Force SFOR in Sarajevo as Assistant Chief of Staff for Joint Military Affairs . Van Uhm assumed command of the entire 11th Air Assault Brigade in July 2001 and of the 11th Air Manoeuvre Brigade following that . ( The Air Manoeuvre Brigade was a combined force consisting of the Air Assault Brigade and the Tactical Helicopter Group ) . Completing two years as Commander of the Air Assault Brigade , van Uhm was subsequently appointed Deputy Director of Policy and Planning with the Royal Dutch Army staff in 2003 . He was appointed Director ( with a promotion to major general ) in July 2004 . He held this position until July 8 , 2005 , when he succeeded Major General Leen Noordzij as commanding officer of Operational Command ‘ December 7 ’ . This was followed shortly , on September 5 , 2005 , by promotion to Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army ( Commandant der Landstrijdkrachten , C - LAS ) . Commensurate with this office he was promoted to lieutenant general and held the post until March 13 , 2008 , when he was succeeded by Lieutenant General Rob Bertholee . He was awarded the " Bronzen Soldaat " at that time , for his exceptional service to the army . On April 17 , 2008 , Peter van Uhm was promoted to full general and appointed Chief of Defence ( CHOD ) . The Minister of Defence , Hans Hillen , announced on September 28 , 2011 that van Uhm will stand down in 2012 , and be succeeded by Major General Tom Middendorp . Van Uhm transferred command to Middendorp on June 28 , 2012 . During the tranfer - of - command ceremony he was made a Commander in the Military Division of the Order of Orange - Nassau and was made a special aide - de - camp to Queen Beatrix . On April 30 , 2013 , Van Uhm served as King of Arms during the Investiture Ceremony of King Willem - Alexander of the Netherlands . Loss of Van Uhm ' s son . Van Uhm ' s promotion to CHOD was accompanied by personal tragedy as , on April 18 , 2008 , his son First Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm was killed in a roadside bombing in Uruzgan , the southern province of Afghanistan . A spokesman for the Taliban claimed that militants had known about his movements and had targeted him . The Dutch government rejected this claim . Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in The Hague : " Our information is that there is no indication of any link between this cowardly deed and the fact that it was the son of the defense chief . "