Military of the Netherlands

The military of the Netherlands is composed of four branches, all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal):
 * Koninklijke Landmacht (KL), the Royal Netherlands Army.
 * Koninklijke Marine (KM), the Royal Netherlands Navy, including the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst (Naval Air Service) and Korps Mariniers (Marine Corps).
 * Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu), the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
 * Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar), the Royal Military Police, tasks include military police and some civil police duties.

Conscription in the Netherlands was suspended in 1996. All military specialities, except the Submarine service and the Marine Corps, are open to women. The Korps Commandotroepen, the Special Operations Force of the Netherlands Army, is open to women, but because of the extremely high physical and mental demands for initial training, it is found impossible for women to become a commando. The Dutch Ministry of Defence employs 68,000 personnel, including both civilian and military personnel.

Budget rise
The budget for the military in 2007 was 7.7 billion euros. Several political parties have suggested raising the military expenditure so that it is closer to the NATO standard for military expenditures, which is 2.0% of the GDP. For 2008 there is a budget increase of around 500 million euros, bringing the budget in 2008 to 8.2 billion euros. With the agreement to stay in Afghanistan until 2010, another 850 million euros will be added to the budget over the next years, to compete with the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan. The Budget for 2009 is now around 8.5 billion euros.