Leanne van den Hoek

Last updated

Leanne van den Hoek
Leanne van den Hoek 2005-08-24.jpg
General van den Hoek
Born (1958-08-21) 21 August 1958 (age 63)
Rotterdam
Allegiance Netherlands
Service/branch Royal Netherlands Army
Years of service1983–present
Rank Nl-landmacht-brigade generaal.svg Brigadier General
Commands heldRoyal Netherlands Army Personnel office

Brigadier General Leanne van den Hoek (born 21 August 1958 in Rotterdam) is an officer of the Royal Netherlands Army. She is the first woman to hold a flag officer rank in the Dutch military. [1] [2] She is married, but has chosen not to have any children. [3]

Contents

Biography

Van den Hoek originally wanted to be a police officer, which was her childhood dream. [3] However, she was refused for training due to poor eyesight. [3] She therefore applied to the military academy instead, where she passed military physical selection (just; in 1979 the Dutch military still used the same physical criteria for men as for women), despite being slightly short (1.65 meter). [3] Van den Hoek enrolled in the Koninklijke Militaire Academie at Breda as an officer cadet in 1979.

After her graduation in 1983 she held several operational positions in the area of Military Logistics; these positions had her stationed both in the Netherlands and in Germany. Regarding her choice for military logistics rather than primary combat training, Van den Hoek stated that back in 1983 combat positions entailed "sitting around all day waiting for the Russians to invade", a possibility she had thought was unlikely to happen. She chose logistics since "an army must always eat – be it in peacetime or at war". [3]

She continued her military education in 1993, enrolling in the Hogere Militaire Vorming. Completing the training in 1994, she was assigned her first command position with the 41st Mechanized Brigade in Seedorf. She held this command until 1996, when she enrolled in the German Führungsakademie. Following this general staff training, she was assigned to the Army Staff in The Hague.

Van den Hoek set a first on 17 July 2001 when she became the first female battalion commander in the Royal Netherlands Army. She commanded the 200th Supply and Transport Battalion at Nunspeet and 't Harde. Promoted to colonel, she later became Director of the Defense Institute for Medical Screening and Selection.

On 1 November 2005 the Dutch State Secretary of Defence Cees van der Knaap promoted Van den Hoek to the rank of brigadier general. This made General Van den Hoek the first female flag officer of the Dutch military. She has been commanding officer of the Army Personnel Department since. [1] [2]

Outside the military

Van den Hoek is an enthusiastic athlete. Prior to 2000 she was an avid skydiver; she was part of the Dutch national team and participated in the precision skydiving world championships. She made a total of 1540 jumps before a karting accident in 2000 caused her a whiplash injury. This forced her to give up parachuting. She now plays golf instead. [3]

Anecdotes

Upon being promoted battalion commander in 2001, Van den Hoek was interviewed on the radio. When asked whether she, as a woman in the military, was hampered by the glass ceiling, she got slightly irritated and responded "What's a glass ceiling?" [3]

Related Research Articles

Staff (military) Management personnel of a military unit

A military staff or general staff is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration, logistics, operations, intelligence, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at HQ and reduces accuracy of orientation of field operations, whereas a decentralised general staff results in enhanced situational focus, personal initiative, speed of localised action, OODA loop, and improved accuracy of orientation.

Major General Elizabeth Cosson, is the current Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and has been a career senior public servant since 2010. Cosson has "vowed" to resign as Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, on 19 July 2020, if she cannot improve the department’s relationship with veterans stating in a media interview on 19 July 2019 that "if I’m still part of the problem in 12 months I will hand over [the job]."

Ton van Loon

Ton van Loon is a commander from the Netherlands. He is a Lieutenant General employed by NATO who took control of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Regional Command South (RC-S) on November 1, 2006 until May 1, 2007. From April 13, 2010 until September 25, 2013, he commanded I. German/Dutch Corps. He is married and has two children.

Peter van Uhm Dutch general

Petrus Johannes Mathias "Peter" van Uhm is a retired Royal Netherlands Army general. He served as Chief of Defence of the Armed forces of the Netherlands from 17 April 2008 until 28 June 2012. He previously served as the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army from 5 September 2005 until 13 March 2008.

Ann E. Dunwoody US Army general, first female to achieve four star rank

Ann Elizabeth Dunwoody is a retired general of the United States Army. She was the first woman in United States military and uniformed service history to achieve a four-star officer rank, receiving her fourth star on November 14, 2008.

Bundeswehr Command and Staff College General Staff College of the German armed forces

The Bundeswehr Command and Staff College is the General Staff College of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, established in 1957 as the successor of the Prussian Military Academy, founded in 1810. Since 1958 it is located in Hamburg. Its motto is "Mens agitat molem", "Mind moves Matter". Being the leading educational institution of the German armed forces, the academy is internationally renowned for its excellence. The academy educates the future elite of not only the German armed forces but also of other member states of the European Union and the NATO.

Rebecca S. Halstead

Rebecca Stevens "Becky" Halstead is a former United States Army officer and the first female graduate of West Point to become a general officer. She was the 34th Chief of Ordnance and Commandant of the United States Army Ordnance Center and Schools at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Rob Bertholee Head of the General Intelligence and Security Service (2011–2018)

Robert Antonius Cornelis "Rob" Bertholee is a retired lieutenant general of the Royal Netherlands Army who served the head of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) from 2011 to 2018. He previously was Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army from 2008 to 2011. Born in Haarlem, Bertholee is married and has one daughter.

Lieutenant General (retired) J.A. (Tony) van Diepenbrugge is a former officer of the Royal Netherlands Army. He served in Lebanon and Bosnia-Hercegovina, held several positions throughout the Army and was Corps Commander of the I. German/Dutch Corps.

Lieutenant General A.G.D. (Ton) van Osch is a senior Dutch military commander and past Director General of the European Union Military Staff.

Wilma Vaught United States Air Force General

Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught, USAFR (Ret.) is a retired American military leader. She was the first woman to deploy with an Air Force bomber unit, and the first woman to reach the rank of brigadier general from the comptroller field.

Tom Middendorp

Thomas Antonius Middendorp is a retired general 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 from 2 February 2009 until 3 August 2009.

Simone Wilkie retired Australian Army officer

Major General Simone Louise Wilkie, is a retired Australian Army officer who was the Australian Deputy National Commander in the War in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. She was Assistant Chief of Staff to General David Petraeus during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and was the first female Commanding Officer of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and Commandant at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. In March 2013 the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, announced her promotion to major general to take over as Commander of the Australian Defence College in July 2013.

Timeline of women in warfare and the military in the United States from 2011–present

This article lists events involving Women in warfare and the military in the United States since 2011. For the previous decade, see Timeline of women in warfare and the military in the United States, 2000–2010.

Diana M. Holland

Diana M. Holland is a major general in the United States Army, who commands the Mississippi Valley Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. She is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From January 2016 to June 2017, served as Commandants of Cadets at the United States Military Academy, the first woman to hold the position.

Structure of the Royal Netherlands Army

The current structure of the Royal Netherlands Army is as follows:

Laura J. Richardson US Army general

Laura Jane Richardson is a four-star general in the United States Army who is the commander of United States Southern Command since October 29, 2021. Prior to that, she was the commanding general of United States Army North from July 2019 to September 2021.

Laura Yeager Major General in United States army reserve

Major General Laura L. Yeager is an officer in the United States Army National Guard. Effective June 29, 2019 she became the commander of the National Guard's 40th Infantry Division. She is the first woman to command a United States Army infantry division.

Song Myung-soon is a former officer of the Republic of Korea Army. She began her career in the Women's Army Corps and rose to command one of its battalions. She has since worked at the South Korean-United States Combined Forces Command and in the offices of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. In December 2010 Song became the sixth South Korean woman to be promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and the first to come from a combat arm. She was placed on the reservist forces two years later.

Roy V. McCarty

Major General Roy Van McCarty is an Officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard who currently serves as South Carolina Adjutant General, he was appointed to the position by Governor Henry McMaster on January 17, 2019. As the states senior military officer, he serves as commander of the South Carolina Military Department which includes the South Carolina Army National Guard, South Carolina Air National Guard, South Carolina State Guard and the Emergency Management Division; he also advises the Governor of the state on military matters.

References

  1. 1 2 Blikop Nieuws Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Dutch military appoints first woman general Article from AP Worldstream August 24, 2005
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Het kan dus wel Interview with Brigadier General Leanne van Hoek in De Volkskrant upon her promotion.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.