Dutch Afghan war ‘hero’ arrested for anti-police violence

This 15 November 2018 video says about itself:

This British soldier was deployed when he had PTSD symptoms – BBC

Historian Dan Snow breaks the silence around the devastating impact of war on the mental health of our soldiers. Here, he meets Sean Jones who made a startling discovery about his mental health, years after the army had already re-deployed him to Afghanistan.

The Dutch Major Marco Kroon case may be about PTSD or other mental heath problems caused by the Afghan war; maybe it is not. If it is, then the Dutch government should have provided proper mental health care for this officer; instead of parading him about as a ‘war hero’, supposedly a shiny example for Dutch children.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Marco Kroon arrested ‘because of headbutting a police officer’

Major Marco Kroon was arrested yesterday in Den Bosch. This confirms his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops. Kroon is said to have headbutted a police officer. This is reported by several media, including the dailies De Telegraaf and the Brabants Dagblad.

Kroon is said to have administered his headbutt after being caught by the cop while urinating in public. The military police only informed the Brabants Dagblad that “a military man” has been arrested. …

Military Order of William

Kroon was awarded the highest military order, the Military Order of William, by Queen Beatrix in 2009. He had been nominated for this because of courage and leadership in Afghanistan.

After that, Kroon got regularly in trouble. He was convicted in 2011 for illegal possession of weapons.

The military police then also accused him of hard drugs possession; for which he was not convicted.

Last year he claimed to have killed a Taliban fighter who had kidnapped and abused him.

The Public Prosecution Department investigated the case, but found insufficient clues that it really happened. No definitive answer could be given and the investigation was therefore stopped.

Kroon may lose his award if he would be sentenced to at least a year of imprisonment unconditionally or if he would be dishonourably discharged.

Earlier, the Dutch government spent 300,000 euros on Kroon’s lawyers; but not this time.