Samenvatting

In the view of the nineteenth-century Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz the value of information is described in a rather pessimistic vein. A full century later the value of information is unquestioned, and there are only luxury problems concerning the way to control the inexhaustible flood of information, the determination of which information at which particular moment is relevant for whom, and how to avoid information overload, for instance. In the present, ever-expanding information world, one thing is clear: the advancing information technology will influence the behaviour of the soldier quite drastically. Hitherto unthinkable activities will become reality in the near future, and the role and value of the fighting soldier and his group will acquire a different significance. In this article the author describes this different role of the soldier. He begins with a short retrospect, followed by a picture of the soldier at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Subsequently, he attempts to describe the possible development of the soldier as informant, simultaneously pointing out the limitations of this source of information. He concludes by answering his self-imposed question: The fighting soldier, warrior or informant?