If a new bill that has been drafted by the Chair of the Federal Parliament’s Defence Select Committee Peter Buysrogge (Flemish nationalist) becomes law, age will no longer be a bar to a person becoming an army reservist. Currently anyone over the age of 34 is unable to become a normal reservist, while the upper age limit for reservist officers in our military is 50.
Upper age limit for army reservists to be scrapped if new bill is approved by parliament
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Mr Buysrogge says that by scrapping the upper age limit, additional reservists will sign up. He told VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’ that "Many people that are interested in becoming a reservist are unable to do so because of the age limit. This means that we miss out on a lot of people”.
A reservist is someone that in addition to their day job, works voluntarily for the military. “This is not a fulltime job, but rather a means to, at certain times, be able to call on people will specific expertise”.
A reservist is given thorough basic training, must keep fit and is required to attend a number of training courses and training sessions each year. Not every reservist serves as a soldier and support roles are also needed.
“The main focus is on professional knowledge and specific skills. We can use all kinds of people at the Defence Department from people with IT skills to lorry drivers”. The Defence Department also has reservists that service as cooks, sailors, physiotherapists, etc for a few weeks each year.
1.000 new reservists each year
The Defence Department’s aim is to recruit at least 1,000 reservists each year and it hopes that the measures contained in Mr Buysrogge’s bill will help it do so. "This is ambitious, of course, but the measure is part of a broader package of measures, and we are seeing a lot of interest from both young and old, males and females alike”.
The age limit for professional military personnel will remain unchanged and will be dependent on the specific job they do within the military.
The Federal Government is to invest heavily in defence during the coming years in order to meet NATO’s norm of 2% GDP investment in defence. Almost 17 billion euro extra will be invested in defence during this legislature.