The number of military personnel who will strengthen brigades in the coming years to solve personnel shortages is expected to be increased. This is evident from questions in the House of Representatives that were asked to State Secretary Christophe van der Maat (VVD).
There is talk of a mandatory survey among all 17-year-olds in the Netherlands to get them to think about a job in Defense.
A service year within Defense is a kind of exploratory year in which participants are given longer time to orientate themselves than a usual training within Defense. Because participation in a service year is voluntary, Defense hopes to attract more participants who may later remain in the form of a professional soldier, reservist or civilian.
Defense started this project in September, including at the 43 Mechanized Brigade in Havelte, which currently has 12 service members. The aim is to have 1,000 participants nationally by 2025.
Due to the enthusiasm, Defense is investigating the options for scaling up more quickly. “To bring the armed forces up to strength, an influx of 3,000 to 4,000 service members per year is required from 2028, in addition to the regular influx of 4,500 professional soldiers per year,” Van der Maat writes in his answers.
Social media is used to reach these numbers of young people, he explains. But Sweden is also being watched with great interest, where a mandatory survey is being used. All 18-year-old young people are asked whether they would like to make a voluntary contribution to the armed forces, to which they are obliged to answer.
“Partly as a result of my working visit to Sweden, I commissioned a map of how a mandatory survey for all 17-year-olds in the Netherlands could take shape. Although it is up to a new Cabinet to make further choices in this regard, various options are being considered. already explored for this.”
In Sweden they have a variation on a service year. Every year, more than 100,000 young people receive a mandatory questionnaire, after which approximately 6,000 young people are called up for military service. Of those 6,000 people, half want to stay in the armed forces after about a year.
Young people in Drenthe may therefore receive such a questionnaire from the ministry in the future. RTV Drenthe spoke to several young people between the ages of 16 and 18 and their reactions were divided. While one person thinks that confrontation works, the other expects that peers will rush it and pay little attention to it.