Mart de Kruif

Lieutenant general Mart de Kruif
Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army
In office 25 October 2011 – 24 March 2016
Preceded by	Lieutenant general Rob Bertholee
Succeeded by	Lieutenant general Leo Beulen
Personal details
Born	(1958-09-01) 1 September 1958 Apeldoorn, Gelderland, The Netherlands.
Awards	Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau Meritorious Service Medal (Canada) Officer in the Legion of Honour (France) Knight Commander's Cross in the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Commander of the Legion of Merit
Military service
Allegiance	The Netherlands
Branch/service	Royal Dutch Army
Years of service	1981–2016
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	Royal Netherlands Army ISAF Regional Command South 43 Gemechaniseerde Brigade 42 Pantserinfanteriebataljon Limburgse Jagers
Battles/wars	ISAF Afghanistan SFOR Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mart de Kruif MSM is a three-star general in the Royal Netherlands Army and served as its executive commander.

Biography

Mart De Kruif received his military education at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. Later he was also educated at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr and the U.S. Army War College. He held several positions within the Netherlands Army before he became commander of the 43 Gemechaniseerde Brigade in Havelte in 2007.

On 1 November 2008 he was promoted to Major General. On the same day he took over the Regional Command South (RC-S) of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from Canadian Major General Marc Lessard. Under his command the size of RC-S doubled to 40.000 troops. He held this command until 1 November 2009, when he was succeeded by British Major General Nick Carter.

From May 2010 till October 2011 he served as the Deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army. Promoted to Lieutenant General on 17 October 2011, de Kruif assumed the post of Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army on 25 October. He retired on 24 March 2016.