The 42nd Battalion "Limburgse Jagers" of the Royal Netherlands Army comes ashoreDateline - 27 July, 2015 - Podagorsk
Monday in a surprise turn of events, the North Atlantic Council, the decision making body of NATO, release a statement that The Netherlands has pledge ground troops to the conflict in Chernarus. Previously, the Dutch have been one of the 25 countries providing military, and humanitarian aide to the Chernarus crisis; the other 3 NATO members being the US, Poland and the United Kingdom, providing troops for combat operations.
It is not exactly known what has prompted the Netherlands government to send its troops to war. One source believes that the Netherlands has lost a large portion of its electronics export to the region due to the political instability in the region. Others, believe that the reasoning for a military response is just due to the fact that the Dutch have always been one of the larger supporters of NATO operations. The Dutch had assisted ISAF forces heavily in operations in Afghanistan. The final theory, and the most likely, is that the Dutch people just believe that helping the Chernarussian people is the right thing. A recent poll shows that 72% of the Dutch people feel that their government should be more involved in the crisis, more than any other NATO country. The Netherlands did have an embassy in country and held strong diplomatic relations. That embassy has since been abandoned 2 weeks before Chernogorsk fell to the RPLA.
The North Atlantic Council is NATO's political decision body, made up of all 28 member states.Another piece to this story that is also is stunning, is the rate that the Royal Netherlands Army, by way of the Royal Netherlands Navy was able to deploy troops, combat ready to the country. While the televised announcement was being made, the 13th Motorized Brigade landed ashore. It is unknown at this time as to what capacity the Dutch troops will fight, whether they take a primary role much like the United States, or more of a support role like the United Kingdom and Poland. Alongside an infantry brigade, the Royal Netherlands Navy brings one Landing Platform Dock (LPD), the first to the region, and two escort frigates that can conduct supporting operations itself. The fact that Dutch infantry were already in the area, suggests that this was planned for some time.
Military commanders have been quite on the current status of operations within Chernarus. One civilian refugee who made their way across the boarder into Chernarus just a week ago, said "NATO forces have been badly beaten in the Northwestern part of the country, it was at that point me and my family gave up hope and fled the country under the cover of darkness". Currently, only time will tell how the situation developes.
Podagorsk Tribune - Gerasim Yurievich Agliullin
*The above story is a work of fiction to further the storyline of the 506th IR Arma 3 unit.
