Commander

Colonel Hans Vroegh

Colonel Hans Vroegh was born in 1964 and grew up in the western part of the Netherlands. In 1983 he started his career at The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. As non-commissioned officer he served in several Marechaussee units in the broad field of policing.   After completion of his initial officers training at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy, Colonel Hans Vroegh was promoted officer and served successively as a MP platoon commander followed by a Team Leader position at the Brigade Special Security Missions (BSB), a special unit tasked for Arresting & Intervention, Surveillance and Close Protection.   After five years serving as Team Leader Intervention combined with the role of Deputy Commander of the BSB he went to the Royal Marechaussee Headquarters as a Staff Officer Operations.   In 2000 he was deployed to former Yugoslavia as the Deputy Provost Marshal in HQ MND SW. Once completed his SFOR mission Hans Vroegh was appointed to be the Head of the Intelligence Department of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, closely linked to the Military- and National Intelligence Services.   From 2004 to 2008 Hans Vroegh was seconded as quartermaster to the National Police to set up and implement a national, integrated Special Counter-Terrorism Unit (DSI), tasked to combat all forms of serious violence and terrorism. Because this unit integrates special knowledge and skills of Military and Police it has been assessed as very successful.   In 2008 Hans Vroegh became the ADC of the Commander of the Royal Marechaussee followed by the appointment in 2011 to be the Commander of the BSB. In this function he was responsible for special police operations in the Netherlands as well for Close Protection operations in high-risk areas such as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. In 2015/2016 he was the chairman of the IFSOC, a cooperation from countries with a high level Air Marshal program.   From 2016 to 2019 Col Vroegh was deployed to the Dutch Caribbean and appointed Brigade Commander for the Dutch Caribbean Islands. After this period he was promoted Colonel and posted as Provost Marshal at SHAPE in Mons till summer 2022. In this period he passed the Senior Course at the NATO Defence College in Rome. Recently Col Vroegh was posted in Iraq / Erbil as Military Advisor for the Ministery of Peshmerga within the multinational coalition.

Col Hans Vroegh is married, has 4 children and 1 grandchild.