Army Officer, Senior Identification Specialist, Commanding Officer Recovery & Identification Unit, Royal Netherlands Army (RIU/RNLDA). Researcher, lecturer, author, policy developer.RIU was established in August 1945. On behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, RIU’s mission is search, exhumation and identification of missing World War 2 casualties - both military and civillian - on Dutch territory (and occasionally abroad) regardless of their nationality or beliefs. Its main objective is to help next of kin achieve closure and ensure a re-interment in a marked grave. The Netherlands government continues to consider this a moral obligation, a duty of care and a debt of honour.RIU combines the fields of forensic archaeology, conflict archaeology, physical anthropology and military history. DNA and Isotope testing are part of research capacity. The RIU is a Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) unit and is based at Dumoulin Barracks in Soesterberg, where it operates from an osteo-archaeological laboratory. Find your passion, discover your purpose: In the early days of my Army career (1989) I started volunteering with the RIU, until posted as Jr. ID Spec in January 1996. I have worked with the unit full time since, having commanded the RIU since February 2009.