History of Dutch army units: Garderegiment Prinses Irene

History:

Regiment,
The history of this regiment starts in january 1941 when the royal Netherlands brigade was formed in Gongleton (UK).
The unit received a flag and its name in august of that year, Prinses Irene, named after the youngest daughter of Juliana.
Irene means peace in Greek.
The end of the second world war also meant the end of the brigade , almost all men were involved on the liberation of the Netherlands.
In 1946 the regiment was formed again but now in the new Dutch army, queen Wilhelmina renamed the regiment to garderegiment and in 1952 the word Fuselier was also added( old word for rifleman).
The current regiment holds the traditions for 5 former Indie batallions , 3,4,5,6 and 7th.

Batallion,
Currently the unit is named 17th PAINFBAT (armored infantrybatallion)

Commanders:
batallion CO: Lt-col Joost Doense
batallionsadjutant : Adjutant Jeroen van Dijk

The unit is based in Oirschot and part of 13th mech brigade.
Equiped with 120mm mortars, machineguns( MAG and Minimi), AT weapons( TOW,GILL) and armored vehicles (YPR).
The YPR will be replaced by the CV90, while the German BOXER will replace command and medic vehicles.
Scouts will receive the Fennek.
One of its companies is serving in the Dutch caribian islands ( the West)

Facts:
Fought in ww2
Dutch indies
Ifor2
SFOR1, 5, 10, 13 and 14
Kfor2
SFIR5
TFU2, 9, 10 and 11

Tradition:

The soldiers wear a purple/orange cord named invasioncord.
Its issued to all new soldiers often on a historical spot.
The unit has a special song written by the first man KIA in Normandy.
The text is written in 1992.

Wij zijn fuselier, we are fuseliers
Vol trots in ons Brabantse land, filled with pride in the Brabant country
Irene is de naam, Irene is the name
Van t regiment in het Oirschotse zand, of the regiment in the Oirschot sands
Oud-strijders gaan ons voor, veterans lead the way
Dat geeft ons moed en berenkracht, They give us strength and courage
Goed voorbeeld doet goed volgen ,we follow their example
Een fuselier die altijd lacht. ,A fuselier who always smiles