PJM Godderij

PJM "Jo" Godderij (born April 4, 1950 in Brunssum , Limburg Province ) is a former Dutch Lieutenant General of the Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) , who was most recently Director General of the International Military Staff (IMS) of NATO in Brussels between 2007 and 2010 .

Life

Training to become a pilot and assignments as an officer and staff officer

Godderij joined the Koninklijke Luchtmacht after attending school in 1969 and trained as an officer at the Royal Military Academy KMA ( Koninklijke Militaire Academie ) in Breda between 1970 and 1974 , most recently training as a pilot in Canada from 1973 to 1974 . After his return he was initially used as a pilot on the Northrop F-5 light fighter aircraft in the 313rd Squadron at the Twente Air Force Base , before he was transferred to the 316th Squadron in 1976 at the Gilze-Rijen military airfield . There he worked as an officer in the squadron and squadron as well as an instructor for a year in the 313th squadron.

After attending a general staff course at the Dutch Defense Academy NLDA (Nederlandse Defensie Academie) between 1983 and 1985 , he worked for a year in the material department of the Royal Air Force in The Hague and in 1986 became commander of the 315th Squadron at the Twente Air Force Base. After his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in July 1989, Godderij was employed in the Department of Planning in the Ministry of Defense and then in 1990 Head of Operations and Training in the Operations Department of the Royal Air Force Staff. Since then, he has been involved at staff level in the preparations and executions of all peace missions of the Air Force.

On May 1, 1991 Godderij was promoted to colonel and as such acted as chief of air operations until April 1994. Then on April 7, 1994 he was appointed commander of the Twente Air Force Base and was also a representative of the Royal Air Force at the headquarters of the 5th Allied Tactical Air Force in Vicenza . It dealt in particular with the use of the stationed in Twente 315th squadron during Operation Deny Flight , a military operation of NATO during and after the Bosnian war , the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina and the protection of peacekeepers of the United Nations to Goal.

Promotion to Lieutenant General and Director General of the IMS of NATO

On August 3, 1995, he was promoted to Brigadier General and, associated with it, was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force for Integrated Planning and Military Policy. He was then promoted to major general on February 21, 1997 and appointed deputy commander of the Interim Combined Air Operations Center ICAOC 2 (Interim Combined Air Operations Center) in Kalkar . During this time he also dealt with defense policy issues such as the air defense doctrine of the Netherlands. He was then named Deputy Commander in Chief of the Royal Air Force on August 2, 1999.

At the end of March 2001, Godderij was appointed Deputy Chief of Defense Staff of the Armed Forces (Nederlandse Krijgsmacht) while being promoted to Lieutenant General. In this capacity he declared in 2002 that the Dutch government and private companies with 800 million US dollars at the Joint Advanced Strike Technology will participate program and have great confidence in this program.

On September 24, 2004, he became Permanent Military Representative of the Netherlands to the NATO Military Committee and the Military Committee of the European Union in Brussels and held these functions until mid-June 2007.

Godderij (right) at the NATO meeting in Tallinn (2010)

On June 22, 2007, Lieutenant General Godderij finally became Director General of the International Military Staff (IMS) of NATO in Brussels and remained in this position until he was replaced by Lieutenant General Jürgen Bornemann in July 2010.

During his military career, he achieved over 3000 flight hours, mainly on fighter aircraft and more than 700 flight hours on the General Dynamics F-16 “Fighting Falcon” multi-purpose fighter .

After retiring from active military service after 41 years of service in July 2010, he worked for the listed French IT service provider Atos SE , where he is Vice President for Government Affairs in Europe and Africa. He is also a member of the supervisory board of an insurer and of the Nederlands Military Tattoo Foundation .

Godderij is married to Conny Godderij-Gommans. From this marriage the two daughters Chantal and Monique and the son Dennis emerged.

Web links

• Biography on the NATO homepage (accessed on February 17, 2015)
• Biography on european-defence.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ Benjamin S. Lambeth: NATO's Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment , 2001, ISBN 0-83303-237-2 , p. 128 u. a.
2. ^ John Andreas Olsen (editor): Global Air Power , 2011, ISBN 1-59797-744-6
3. ↑ Budget Surge Marks Shift In Dutch Defense ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: National Defense Magazine (November 2002) 
4. ↑ NATO Military Committee Conference in Lisbon ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (The Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS) September 20, 2009) 
5. ^ Board of The National Tattoo Foundation