Military illegally used private shooting instructors to make service year happen: report

Former Defense State Secretary Christophe van der Maat was so determined to make his “Defense Service Year” work that he solved the military’s shortage of shooting instructors by illegally hiring private parties, Follow the Money discovered. Until the State Secretary quietly changed the weapons law - without telling parliament - early this year, it was illegal for civilians to use military weapons.

Van der Maat (VVD) would have preferred to reintroduce conscription two years ago, but as that was politically unfeasible, he came up with the Defense Service Year - a year in which young people could voluntarily work in the armed services for payment. In August of this year, Defense announced that the program was a success – almost three-quarters of the 132 participants decided to continue their careers at Defense. The current Defense State Secretary, Gijs Tuinman (BBB), wants to let the Service year “grow to 4,000 participants.”

However, according to FTM, internal documents in its possession show that Van der Maat used some dodgy methods to get his service year off the ground. Defense did not have enough shooting instructors to train the new recruits, so the Ministry hired private parties through illegal constructions.

One such party was the Triangular Group (TGA), a company founded by former soldiers. The company was hired despite not meeting the safety requirements—it did not have the required certification, and the individual instructors did not have Certificates of Good Behavior.

The TGA supplied 14 former soldiers as shooting instructors. Because the Arms Act prohibited civilians from using military weapons, the army tried to circumvent the rules by making the instructors reservists and, therefore, soldiers. But Defense lawyers pointed out that this construction was in conflict with the Civil Service Act and integrity rules. Appointing instructors as reservists makes them civil servants, and the civil servants are not allowed to provide services outside the government. So, they wouldn’t be allowed to work at TGA anymore.

Onno Eichelsheim, Commander of the Armed Forces, described this as “a cumbersome construction that the Central Organization for Defense Integrity (COID) deems unlawful.” In a memo to the Ministry, he advised amending the Arms Act to legalize the use of private instructors. In the meantime, the private instructors were renamed “civilian shooting instructors.”

At the beginning of this year, then-State Secretary Van der Maat followed Eichelsheim’s advice. Without informing the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, he amended the Arms Act so that Defense could hire private shooting instructors. The Ministry considered it unnecessary to inform parliament of the move.

Wim Voermans, a professor of constitutional and administrative law at Leiden University, told FTM that the State Secretary is allowed to change the weapons law without the knowledge of parliament. But that authority is only intended for small changes. “You can wonder whether that was the case here.”

According to FTM, soldiers were also critical of the decision to hire private shooting instructors. The private instructors were called in at a higher hourly wage than non-commissioned officers, while there are limited possibilities for wage increases within Defense.