27th August started with a bang. Just after six the room was awakened by a 30-mm projectile, presumably fired from an anti-aircraft battery. First it drilled its way through a window, blasted through a cupboard wall finally to ricochet off the coffee table in our room.
[Gerard Wondergem, Sarajevo, 1992]
Peace missions (1951-the present)
The Dutch army has been taking part in United Nations peace missions since its participation in the Korean conflict. However these missions have increasingly been assuming a greater role. With the disappearance of the communist power block as an opponent, there was in fact no longer any need for a large land army. The emphasis came to be placed on rapid and flexible intervention everywhere in the world, with the aim of managing conflict.
This development was partly responsible for the discontinuation of conscription in 1996. Heavy materials such as tanks have become less important for the Dutch army. By way of contrast, lightweight equipment, rapid means of transport and well-trained, specialised soldiers have increased in importance. In the current professional army it is particularly the engineers, the marines, the commandos and the mobile air brigade that are frequently sent on operations all over the world.
