CS#71: Dutch Commando Corps and General Intelligence Service | Triangular Group | Ray Klaassens
About This Episode
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Today we hear an international Combat Story from Ray Klaassens, a Dutch Special Operator in the Commando Corps (KCT) and former Dutch General Intelligence Service (or AIVD) officer who spent years in combat zones fighting our very same enemies alongside American counterparts.
Ray comes from very humble origins and the other side of the “canal” as he likes to say, overcoming so much to reach the pinnacle of intelligence and military units. Both KCT and AIVD, if you ask any American who served alongside them (including myself), are elite units that many of us would happily go down range with.
Since leaving the service, Ray overcame even greater odds to create his company, Triangular Group, that provides de-risking and intelligence services for clients globally.
I hope you enjoy this international Combat Story from humble roots to true success in military, intel, and business as much as I did.
Show Notes:
Ray Klaassens
Chapters
- 0:00Intro
- 1:22Guest Introduction (Ray Klaassens)
- 2:21Interview begins
- 5:11Growing up poor in the Netherlands
- 17:47The process for becoming an officer in the Dutch military
- 24:44About the different Dutch Special Forces and the KCT
- 33:07What it was like in the Netherlands on 9/11 and how his commando training changed
- 38:14Leading a team down range with very little intel
- 54:01Story of engaging with a drunk guy in Afghanistan in order to get some information
- 56:37Leading a team to find someone placing IEDs on the full moon
- 1:05:45Switching from Special Forces to Intel Services AIBD as a secret service
- 1:20:50Exiting Intel Services, starting the Triangular Group, and what they are doing today
- 1:33:47What did you carry into combat?
- 1:35:01Would you do it all again?
- 1:36:17Listener comments and shout outs
