Staff shortages force Defense to merge marine, army companies

The Marine Corps and the Army are temporarily merging companies because of staff shortages. With this solution the units can continue to follow complete training programs, but this is only a temporary patch, the Ministry of Defense confirmed to ANP.

Defense is facing a 13 percent staff shortage. The armed forces are attracting more people, but employees often only stay at Defense for a few years. Defense trained employees are attractive to other employers, and other employers can often offer better growth opportunities, according to the news wire.

"A difficult situation", according to Defense. "We are now mainly focussing on retaining staff. We are working on better progress and looking at whether we can award bond premiums more often. We also want fewer drop-outs during training and to set fewer physical demands on staff who do not need it."