The Netherlands reserve army needs much larger, rise obligation no longer unthinkable

• Roeland Müller

  Reporter Economy

Defense wants to recruit many more people than so far. Until now, the Ministry of Defense wanted to end up with a total of 100,000 people, but the number of 200,000 is now mentioned. That is the total of soldiers, civil functions and reservists.

Two trade unions say that in a consultation with employers and employees, State Secretary Gardener has mentioned this number. Other sources around Defense confirm this.

The State Secretary does not want to respond yet. He refers to a letter to the Lower House that will be sent next Monday. Gardener also says how he wants to come to a larger army.

With the new ambitions, a return of the attendance obligation can no longer be excluded, say Defense experts. The Netherlands still formally has conscription, but since 1997 young people no longer have to report.

Around 75,000 people currently work for defense. In addition to professional soldiers and non-soldiers staff, the Netherlands also has just under 8000 reservists. They once served and can be called on if necessary. Some of them can perform military tasks in the Netherlands if, for example, many professional soldiers have to go abroad. The rest is for civil functions.

To recruit soldiers, the State Secretary looks at Sweden. There, 17-year-olds are obliged to complete an extensive survey about their skills, motivation and affinity with defense.

A part is approached personally for a physical and mental test. Participation is voluntary, and that yields many motivated young people for the armed forces. If there are still shortages, other young people are still called up. That is no longer voluntary: in 2017, Sweden again introduced the attendance obligation for this.

This year, 110,000 Swedish youths born in 2007 the survey. Before the test day, 30,000 are called, of whom 8500 are selected. For comparison: more than 180,000 children were born in the Netherlands in 2007. If the model works here, it will result in many new people for the armed forces.

NATO demands that the Netherlands can use military reservists as a battalion. There are now three battalions with reservists in the south, middle and north of the country. For example, they are used for monitoring and security of important infrastructure such as ports and airports.

Now there is room for around 3000 people per battalion, but these are not completely filled. Former commander of the armed forces Mart de Kruif assumes that those battalions are growing, but warns that this should not go too fast: “It is a balancing act. You can want more, but the organization must be able to handle it.”

Those reservists must first have served at least a year. Since conscripts are no longer called up since 1997, the question is how the cabinet wants to get all those soldiers and sailors.

State Secretary Tuinman does not close unorthodox measures, but he is not yet thinking of full conscription, he said earlier Against de Volkskrant: “I don’t need operating soldiers. Perhaps if the escalation in the world goes a phase further, but not yet.”

Even with the Swedish model, the state secretary omits the obligatory parts in the first instance, the experts expect. Filling in the survey probably remains its own choice and if there are too few volunteers, there is not yet mandatory calls.

Without any obligation, however, it becomes very difficult to quickly reach a large number of reservists and professional soldiers, says Dick Zandee, Defense expert Van Clingendael: “The ambition is good, but there must be a plan. If you want to increase, you have to oblige something.”

That is why the attendance obligation will eventually become a serious option, says Jean Debie of the trade union for citizens and military defense personnel. According to the trade union, it will gradually be introduced if it appears that there is insufficient recruitment on the basis of voluntaryness.

Former commander Mart de Kruif wants to wait for it first: “Look first if this works. A turnout obligation is now not realistic in terms of the limited number of trainers, places and available equipment.” Defense itself acknowledges that there is a shortage of teachers and barracks.

Even without coercion, the former commander thinks that the number of reservists can indeed grow rapidly. “There are now also girls compared to the Cold War. Reservist is attractive because travel times in the Netherlands are limited. That makes exercises less stressful.”