Lieutenant General Jan Broeks
2016
Lieutenant General Jan Broeks (born in 1959) studied at the Royal Military Academy in Breda for 4 years from 1977. After completion, as 2nd Lieutenant, he was posted to 103 (NLD) Supply Battalion. From 1983, as 1st Lieutenant, Jan Broeks was Chief Logistics Officer of a helicopter squadron. In 1985, a tour of duty in Lebanon ensued. Within the framework of the UNIFIL mission, as an Acting Captain he became Commander of the Logistic Platoon supporting the Dutch Infantry Company. Upon returning to The Netherlands and after a short spell at the staff of the (NLD) Army Logistic Command, in January 1986, as a substantive Captain, he took command of the 112th (NLD) Mixed Supply Company. In 1989, he moved on to a position within the G2/3 branch of HQ 103 (NLD) Supply Battalion. For 2 years from 1990, Jan passed Staff College and, subsequently, General Staff College. In 1992, by then a Major, he became Staff Officer Logistic Operations with G4 branch at GHQ 1st (NLD) Army Corps in Apeldoorn.
In 1994, Jan and his family lived in the United Kingdom where he studied at the Army Command and Staff College at Camberley. On return to The Netherlands 1995, he took a seat as lecturer in Strategic Studies at the Netherlands’ Institute for Defence Studies. This was followed by promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel and postings both with the Directorate of Army Material and Army Command. From 1998 for 2 years, he commanded 100 (NLD) Supply & Transport Battalion. It was during this period that he attached to KFOR in the capacity as Deputy CO 1 (NLD) Humanitarian Relief Battalion. After this, he was posted as the Army Planner at the Defence Staff. In 2001, following his promotion to Colonel, he was made Chief International Plans at the Defence Staff.
In 2003, Colonel Broeks became Head of the Department for General Policies as part of the Army Command Staff. In 2005, when Army Command changed into Command Land Forces, he moved to the position of Head of the Department for Management Support. Promoted to Brigadier in June 2007, he took command of 1 (NLD) Logistic Brigade which was amalgamated with the Combat Support Brigade into a new unit, Land Operations Support Command, in 2009. He was the first Commander of this unit and, from January 2010, he prepared his units for the redeployment-mission in ISAF/Uruzgan and, as of August the same year, he commanded the mission-tailored Redeployment Task Force.
Returned from his deployment, in April 2010 (the now) Brigadier Broeks took on his new appointment as Deputy Director for Plans at the Netherlands Defence Staff. Promoted to Major General, he became responsible for the execution of the transformation and reorganization/budget reduction programme of the NLD Armed Forces and the MOD. In April 2013, he assumed the position of Military Representative of the Netherlands to the Military Committees of NATO and the EU, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. As of 27 July 2016 he will be the new Director General of the International Military Staff of NATO.
Jan is married to Hilde Broeks-Heemskerk and they have 2 children, a daughter named Myrna (born in 1989) and a son, Thijmen (born in 1992). He has a wide range of hobbies, among them: long distance running; mountain biking; soccer; mountain hiking in Austria; and, finally, reading and music.