Not Enough Young Soldiers

According to a report by NOS, the Ministry of Defense has a severe shortage of young soldiers. The current organization resembles, according to Minister Hennis-Plasschaert (Defense), an inverted pyramid too much, that is, there are many older but few young people.

In an interview with NOS Radio 1 News, the Minister said that she is aiming for a small top and a wide bottom. Therefore, Defense is trying to recruit mainly young people. The inflow is not yet how it should be, but according to the Minister, there is a slight increase.

However, cutbacks in the budget has led to a loss of 1200 positions. There are also 6,000 forced redundancies. The Minister adds that the outflow is, therefore, too large and the inflow too little.