14 DAY TRIAL // The Dutch army has a serious ammunition crisis on its hands these days. Things are so bad that, what with virtually no bullets to go around, soldiers have to shout “bang, bang!” during training exercises to simulate the sound of battle.
Admittedly, training exercises are supposed to be as safe as possible, so not using actual bullets might seem like the sensible thing to do.
Then again, having to pretend-fire weapons is not what people expect to do when they join the army and become proper soldiers.
“Even if you have no bullets, you have to train with your weapon. That means, as a soldier, you say ‘bang, bang!’ This is obviously disastrous for the morale of the military,” said in an interview Jean Debie of the military union VBM.
Officials promise to soon buy more ammo
Let's face it, having soldiers run around shouting “bang, bang!” or “pew, pew, pew!” at each other bears a striking resemblance to a playground scenario.
Aware of the problem, officials with the Dutch Defense Ministry promise to sort out this conundrum as soon as possible and make sure the country's army has plenty of ammunition to go around for training exercises.
As for how this rather embarrassing ammo shortage came to happen to begin with, they blame it on tight inventories and money trouble. So, the usual.
“There is not always sufficient ammunition available for exercises and training. The Defense Ministry understands troops are not always happy with this.”
“Once additional funding is available, the stockpiles will be replenished in 2015,” a spokesperson for the Ministry commented on this unfortunate situation in a statement, as cited by Ares Armor.
Until the ammunition shortage is sorted out as promised, Dutch army soldiers can either quit training exercises altogether or go on shouting “bang, bang!” whenever they lock on a target.
