Samenvatting

In this article the correlation between the problems military personnel encountered during peacekeeping operations and the deficiencies they experienced during their education/training prior to deployment is analyzed. Education and training should be designed in such a way that the kind of problems soldiers are most likely to meet in a certain mission are taken into account. Mission-oriented training should be tailor-made to fit specific missions. Language, communication, diplomatic and military skills should be part of every course. Academic training in military academies should provide a broad basis, comprising a general and diverse range of disciplines that prepares aspirant officers not so much for a specific mission but that enables them to solve unexpected problems that may arise from unanticipated situations. A mix of discipline sis necessary, for it is impossible to know in advance what problems may come up. Most probably the officer will be confronted with several problems at the same time. This is why multi-disciplinary education is to be preferred. General analytic academic skills, lateral thinking and creativity are skills flexible officers of the (near) future need to develop.