Eichelsheim was born in Schiedam,[2] grew up in Bergambacht and attended high school in Schoonhoven.

[2] His military career commenced in August 1986 at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie as a cadet of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF), destined for a position as helicopter pilot.

[3] [4] In 2000, Eichelsheim was responsible for the planning of the first deployment of an Apache detachment to Djibouti for the United Nations peacekeeping mission UNMEE.

[8][9][10] Eichelsheim made several news media appearances in October 2018, when the MIVD publicised a disrupted close-access cyberattack at the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague by the Russian military intelligence service GRU.

[4] On 15 April 2021, Eichelsheim was named as the Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Armed Forces, and promoted to general, replacing Lieutenant Admiral Rob Bauer.