The [Netherlands] Navy does not have enough personnel to man all the ships.

13 comments

1. I wonder: where are all the people? We have more humans than ever and every area seems to be lacking personnel. Wtf?

2. They could team up with Denmark! They have personal, but non-functional ships

3. Have they seen inflation. I’m not taking a pay cut to work for them.

4. Not surprising. Back in high school, I considered joining the navy. Then I saw they don’t just pay their regular sailors just a little over minimum wage, but also their officers (which is what I was interested in). The only people who get good pay are the highest ranking personnel. You can literally earn the same or more by not risking your life for your country and working at a restaurant or supermarket.

5. They should give them to their southern allies, I’m sure we’ll make better use of them /s

6. I mean pay isn’t great, benefits are pretty neat but that won’t convince people to drastically change their lifestyle. Doesn’t help that for years people have looked to the military for spending cuts and now we have an issue with the military right around the time that having a decent one would be pretty neat.

7. [removed]

8. I’m not sure what’s the pay. But I rent a house that I might lose if I am always on deployment, I have a cat that needs taking care off and I have a social life I like to tend to. Spending months on deployment doesn’t really mix well with that schedule. If I were straight out of high school and had not attachments, then it might be a option. But now it’s just a list of complications.

9. Western Europe: makes being in the national forces a deeply unattractive job through low wages and poor conditions.

   Also Western Europe: why doesn’t any want to be soldiers anymore?

10. Same problem as here. Have they considered offering more money?

    Also i’m curious how the recruitment process is there. Here it is incredibly long and drawn out, and a lot of people get rejected for the most minimal of medical issues

11. Have they tried giving 110%?

12. Through 2027 as recently projected, the Netherlands will still be below the now famous 2% of GDP in defense spending to which NATO members have supposedly committed since the 2014 summit. They are currently trolling in meeting the pledge by being at around 1.9+%.

    If the Dutch raise military wages to attract recruits needed to man ships and all the other personnel shortages and to also to keep those already in, the Netherlands would probably also get closer to meeting their NATO commitment.

13. Imagine if employers chose to understand how the ideas of supply and demand and employee compensation intersect.