2 months Ago
Recruitment Success and Growth Aim
In the first eight months of this year, about 5,000 new personnel entered the Dutch Armed Forces. The total is now 79,323, with a target of increasing to 100,000 personnel by 2030. Civilians and reservists have the most new personnel. More than 8,500 reservists had been engaged by September 1, about 2,000 more than at the end of 2022. This increase is connected to initiatives such as the "Service Year" and the Defensity College, which have provided younger citizens an opportunity to explore service with the military.
Training Capacity Under Pressure
Despite success in recruitment, the army is challenged to provide the necessary quality in training. The army has limited equipment, such as vehicles and weapons, to train the new personnel due to providing ongoing support to Ukraine. The Netherlands has provided a great deal of military equipment to Ukraine and has no access to replace those resources in training. Some parts of the training may not be completed this year as a result.
Plans to Think Training
The Ministry of Defence will initiate a Delta Plan for Training to help solve these training challenges. The plan is to improve and digitize the training system for improved efficiency and effectiveness. The plan also aims to find options to outsource some training to external partners to manage training capacity challenges. The plan is designed to ensure that new recruits (for example, the 1,270 professional soldiers hired through August) are properly trained and maintain the course to hire a probable 1,000 more personnel by the end of 2025.
