Military of Belgium

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The military of Belgium is the Belgian armed forces. The Belgian Armed Forces have about 41,000 active troops. They are organised into one unified structure which consists of four main components:

1. Land Component, or the Army;

2. Air Component, or the Air Force;

3. Naval Component, or the Navy,

4. Medical Component.

The operational commands of the components (COMOPSLAND, COMOPSAIR, COMOPSNAV and COMOPSMED) are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defence, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training (ACOS Ops & Trg), and to the Chief of Defence (CHOD).

Ranks

The Belgian Land Component, Air Component and Medical Component use the same military ranks. The Naval Component's ranks are unique in the Belgian Armed Forces.

Average Age of a soldier

The average age of a soldier in the Belgian armed forces is 40, one of the highest in the world. For comparison purposes, the United States armed forces had an average age of 28, which is considered one of the lowest in the western world.

See also

• Belgium
• Belgian Land Component
• Belgian Air Component
• Belgian Naval Component
• Belgian Medical Component
• Free Belgian Forces
• 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade

References

• CIA Factbook 2005: 

External links

• Official website of the Belgian armed forces

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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 11:48:20 PDT (GMT -0700)
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