Belgium Armed Forces and the Belgian Club

[HeyEng]

People often asked me if there is anything to do at an overseas base if you could not get off-base. They were surprised that there were restaurants and clubs to go to, I guess they assumed that that it’s something like Full Metal Jacket.

I joked that at Ramstein the Belgiums sole purpose in NATO was to run a night club!
Apparently I’m not alone in my belief that they are the black sheep of NATO!

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2023/09/shared-threats-unequal-efforts-belgiums.html

 

[slc]

Ahh, the Belgium Club ETAR on Thursday nights......the memories

[M2]

Spent three years at SHAPE, so none of this is new...

Back in the early 90s, I was at a embassy party in Bratislava where I met two Belgian generals, one Flemish and one Walloon.  They got into an argument over which part of the country was nicest after I mentioned having visited there during a weekend trip from the UK back in the early 80s!

Honestly, outside Brussels, the country is really the ass-end of The Netherlands and France!  There is even a small German region to the east (Ostbelgien) that doesn't want to have anything to do with the rest of the country!

[Lord Ratner]

"According to Dedonder, 'it's the military's societal role to provide young, inexperienced, and less qualified individuals with an opportunity to enter the job market'. An argument could be made that this is precisely not the role of the military. On the contrary, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Dedonder's attempt to integrate the role of an educational institution into the Belgian Army's mission, given the context of manpower shortages and capability disparities compared to other NATO nations, is fundamentally misguided."

 

The country is run by people who believe that the mere existence of militaries is the root cause of conflict, and a direct impediment to their cosmopolitan goal of a single world government. It seems like intentional sabotage because it is.

[HeyEng]

5 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

"According to Dedonder, 'it's the military's societal role to provide young, inexperienced, and less qualified individuals with an opportunity to enter the job market'. An argument could be made that this is precisely not the role of the military. On the contrary, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Dedonder's attempt to integrate the role of an educational institution into the Belgian Army's mission, given the context of manpower shortages and capability disparities compared to other NATO nations, is fundamentally misguided."

 

The country is run by people who believe that the mere existence of militaries is the root cause of conflict, and a direct impediment to their cosmopolitan goal of a single world government. It seems like intentional sabotage because it is.

Well if the Belgians are trying to implement a one world government we don’t have to worry since they cannot corral their own multitude of political parties and different language regions!

Belgian is like you unemployed brother in law sleeping on you couch, who tries to shoehorn himself to get invited to an event on your side of the family for the free food and drinks!

[Day Man]

21 minutes ago, HeyEng said:

Belgian is like you unemployed brother in law sleeping on you couch, who tries to shoehorn himself to get invited to an event on your side of the family for the free food and drinks!

He's getting invited regardless, if only for the Belgian beer🍻