The outgoing Commander of the Army Martin Wijnen, who has led the army since 2019 and for the last time this month, made the statements in De Telegraaf. “We don’t all have to wear a helmet tomorrow,” he told the newspaper, but we can prepare better than we are doing now.
‘Society must be ready’
According to Wijnen, the Netherlands should follow the example of Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states. These countries border or are close to Russia and, according to the head of the army, the population there is better prepared for a war with the big neighbor.
“The Netherlands must learn again that the entire society must be ready when things go wrong,” he says in the newspaper. For citizens, this means having food and drinking water in stock so that they can get ahead in the event of an emergency. “The Netherlands should not think that safety is guaranteed with us because we are 1,500 kilometers away.”
Wijnen warns that Russia is becoming increasingly stronger and that a strong army is needed for deterrence. “There is only one language that Russia understands: that of a robust armed forces,” he says. It is therefore important that the personnel shortage in Defense is reduced.
Voluntary service year
Wijnen expects a lot from the voluntary service year for young people, which was introduced this year following the Swedish example. Six hundred young people have participated, but Wijnen hopes to be able to attract two to three thousand young people every year, a third of whom will choose a career in the army afterwards and a third will become a reservist.
He speaks in De Telegraaf of a ‘shell of 18-year-olds’, with which the professional army can be supplemented and losses can be absorbed.
Wijnen is exchanging the Ministry of Defense for that of Infrastructure and Water Management, where he will become Director General of Rijkswaterstaat on January 1. Jan Swillens will succeed him in March.
2023-12-28 02:30:41
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