serviceyears branch commands birth_place allegiance awards placeofburial_label battles birth_date nickname rank image article_title name
1973-2008 royal netherlands air force chief of the netherlands defence staff amsterdam netherlands legion orange-nassau , légion d ´ honneur of merit , nato medal , order of place of burial unifil in afghanistan , operation deny flight , isaf , war 18 march 1950 `` quicky '' 15px general dick berlijn.jpg dick berlijn
 dick lodewijk berlijn
dick berlijn

general dick lodewijk berlijn -lrb- born march 18 , 1950 in amsterdam -rrb- is a retired royal netherlands air force four-star general , who served as chief of defence of the netherlands -lrb- chief of the netherlands defence staff -rrb- from 2004 , when he succeeded lt. adm. luuk kroon , until 2008 , when he was succeeded by gen. peter van uhm .
in 2005 , the post was renamed from `` chef-defensiestaf '' to `` commandant der strijdkrachten '' -lrb- `` commander of the armed forces '' -rrb- following a reorganisation , but the term `` chief of defence staff '' is still the one usually used in english translations .
his office saw dutch military presence in uruzgan with isaf , as well as naval contributions to the united nations interim force in lebanon , among other interventions .
he has been awarded with the légion d'honneur and the legion of merit , and the order of orange-nassau , all in the degree of commander , and the order of orange-nassau with swords .
berlijn graduated from the koninklijke militaire academie in 1973 .
