The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Music director. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching bands in the world, dating from the 13th century.
The Netherlands Marine Corps is the elite naval infantry corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy, one of the four Armed Forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The marines trace their origins to the establishment of the Regiment de Marine on 10 December 1665, by the then grand pensionary of the Dutch Republic, Johan de Witt and famous Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. It is the second-oldest still-active marine corps in the world.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the Luchtvaartafdeling of the Dutch Army, which was founded in 1913. The aerobatic display team of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, active from 1979 until 2019, was the Solo Display Team.
The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William, is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Orange. Its motto is Voor Moed, Beleid en Trouw. The chivalric order was established on 30 April 1815 by King William I and was presented for feats of excellent bravery on the battlefield and as a meritorious decoration to senior military officers. Comparable with the French Légion d’Honneur but far less often awarded, it is open to everyone regardless of rank or nobility—not only to Dutch military, but also to foreigners. To date, membership in the Order is extremely rarely awarded, and only for exceptional bravery in battle.
The Royal Netherlands Army is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the Staatse Leger was raised making the Dutch standing army one of the oldest in the world. It fought in the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, the Indonesian War of Independence, and the Korean War, and served with NATO on the Cold War frontiers in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1990s.
The Grenadiers and Rifles Guards Regiment is a regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army; along with the Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene it is one of the two Dutch Guard regiments.
The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee is the national gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties. It is also one of the two national police forces in the Netherlands, alongside the National Police, and is one of the four branches of the Netherlands Armed Forces.
The National Reserve Corps is a part of the Royal Netherlands Army. NATRES is a corps in the sense that it has a specialized task. The reservist is, like all Dutch military personnel, a military volunteer.
The Korps Commandotroepen (KCT) is the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. The KCT traces its origins to the Second World War with the founding of No. 2 (Dutch) Troop, and the founding of the Korps Speciale Troepen during the Indonesian War of Independence. At present, the unit is tasked with conducting the full spectrum of special operations, its principal tasks being direct action, special reconnaissance, military assistance and counter-terrorism.
The current structure of the Royal Netherlands Army is as follows:
The Royal Military Band "Johan Willem Friso", also informally called the Band of the Royal Netherlands Army or the Johan Willem Friso Military Band is a Dutch military unit in the Koninklijke Landmacht which is the seniormost of all the military bands in the Netherlands Armed Forces, as well as the oldest of the four professional bands currently in existence in the army. It provides musical support for ceremonial events of national importance involving the army, the government, and the Dutch royal house. The repertoire of the band ranges from a variety of different genres, including military marches and contemporary/classical arrangements of symphonic music.
The Rotterdam Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, also referred to as the Band of the Korps Mariniers or simply the Dutch Marine Band is the Royal Netherlands Navy's official musical unit. Like Britain's Royal Marines Band Service it is the representative band of the entire navy despite being a reporting unit of the Korps Mariners, as sub-branch in the Dutch Armed Forces. Based in the port city of Rotterdam, the band was founded on 1 August 1945 as a continuation of the pre-war Regimental Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The Fanfare Band of the Royal Marechaussee is a 60-member fanfare band which serves as the official ensemble of the Dutch Royal Marechaussee. It is currently led by Captain Peter Kleine Schaars. It is currently based in Apeldoorn. Being a professional military band representing a service branch of the Dutch Armed Forces, it consists of many different ensembles, including a saxophone quartet, and a percussion section. Also, it maintains a drum and bugle corps component.
The Netherlands Maritime Special Operations Forces is the special forces unit of the Marine Corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is one of the three principal units tasked with special operations in the Netherlands. The unit can be deployed worldwide to conduct special operations, including counter-terrorism both overseas and domestically, with a maritime focus. Its operations are planned and coordinated by the Netherlands Special Operations Command, as are the operations of the KCT.
The Korps Inlichtingen & Veiligheid Prinses Alexia is a corps within the Royal Netherlands Army that specializes in the gathering and processing of intelligence. The corps, together with the Korps Communicatie & Engagement Prinses Ariane, constitutes the Arm of Information Manoeuver and was established on 20 November 2020.
The Korps Communicatie & Engagement Prinses Ariane of the Royal Netherlands Army is a corps within the Arm of the Information Manoeuver, which was established as of 20 November 2020. It is named after Princess Ariane of the Netherlands.
The Operational Support Command Land is a support command of the Royal Netherlands Army. The command consists of multiple combat support and combat service support units that provide the army with a broad variety of services. The OOCL was established in 2009, with the simultaneous disbandment of 1 Logistics Brigade and 101 Combat Support Brigade.
The Fire Support Command is the artillery arm of the Royal Netherlands Army. The command consists of 41 Artillery Battalion, a staff, the Fire Support School and the artillery training grounds and is part of the Operational Support Command Land.
Netherlands 
Dutch Army 