{"id":545638,"date":"2025-07-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=545638"},"modified":"2025-07-21T14:18:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:18:17","slug":"honoring-our-legacy-how-one-man-contributes-to-250-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=545638","title":{"rendered":"Honoring our Legacy: How one man contributes to 250 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Jos Luijten, a Dutch local national, sits at his desk in the master planning division of the Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army Garrison Benelux in Brunssum, the Netherlands, July 14, 2025. He has held seven different positions working for the U.S. Army in the last 43 years.
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[Editor’s Note: The following story is a part of USAG Benelux\u2019s \u201cHonoring our Legacy\u201d series in which we tell stories of the U.S. Army’s 250-year history, our Soldiers and civilians, and our enduring legacy. <\/em>Email public affairs<\/a><\/em> to get involved in the USAG Benelux Army 250 campaign.]<\/em><\/p>\n

BRUNSSUM, Netherlands \u2013 The engine, wheels, and other components of a tank are crucial but only when assembled do they form a functional vehicle. In the same way, each individual\u2019s contribution to the 250-year history of the U.S. Army makes up the whole of its strength. Jos Luijten, a Dutch local national, has spent the last 43 years of his life contributing in his own way.<\/p>\n

Since his youth, Luijten had particular interest in gaining employment with the U.S. Army in the Netherlands due in part to the stories of WWII liberation his parents and grandparents shared when he was a child. He remembers his grandmother sharing stories of how they housed U.S. Soldiers during the years of the war. In one instance, they worried that the tanks driving up the road were German but then were delighted to see it was actually U.S. Army Soldiers. Tents were set up in the yard, Soldiers offered chocolate, cigarettes, and chewing gum, and his grandparents provided meals\u2014even in their lack\u2014 and all with no common language shared.<\/p>\n

Luijten knew early on that military jobs were available in town. The job opportunities were greatly welcomed in the late 1960s when coal mines began shutting down. Relocation of NATO\u2019s Allied Joint Force Command headquarters to the area in 1967 provided a significant boost to the local economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [coal] mines were the biggest employer for the area. After the coal mines closed \u2026 there was a lot of unemployment in Brunssum,\u201d said Luijten. \u201cIt was good that NATO was looking for a new installation. That meant also a lot of employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the stories from his youth stashed in his memory, Luijten found his way to continue his gratitude toward the U.S. Army. In 1982, he enrolled in an employment agency which connected him to a job with the Dutch Ministry of Defense in the commissary at the U.S. Army Garrison located in Schinnen. After nine months of stocking vegetables on the shelves, he found opportunity to move into an administrative clerk position in the Directorate of Public Works.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s secretarial work flowed differently without the use of computers. Employees typed memorandums on typewriters and sent them by courier for signatures which would sometimes take more than a week to be returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then every time you had to do a memorandum you had to retype the whole memorandum,\u201d said Luijten about how process in the past took substantially more time than in modern days. \u201cNow you can make a template on your computer \u2026 make your changes and hit print.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luijten went on to hold other positions with the garrison over the past 43 years including two stints at the JFC Brunssum International Chapel, Child Development Center, Network Enterprise Center (NEC), and currently back in the Directorate of Public Works but this time with the master planning division. Two of the moves were due to elimination of the positions and the others were opportunities for promotion.<\/p>\n

His job at the chapel, where Luijten spent a combined 16 years, ranked as his favorite of all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you give customer service and do something for people you get recognized right away\u2014you can sense that people like it,\u201d he said, about how these transactions contributed to overall job satisfaction for him. \u201cIt\u2019s important that you\u2019re happy at work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luijten shared how his jobs with the NEC and the chapel also incorporated his Family with invitations to events around the holidays like pumpkin carving, a winter chili cook-off, and a visit from the Easter bunny. Sharing these elements of American culture with his children was special, he said.<\/p>\n

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\n Jos Luijten\u2019s daughters, Shannon on the left (10) and Britney (6), dress in costume for the 39th Signal Battalion Halloween event in October 2008 in Schinnen, the Netherlands. Luijten\u2019s family enjoyed participating in American celebrations as Dutch citizens, and they have regularly participated in garrison events throughout his long career with the U.S. Army.
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Over the years, Luijten taught his children the importance of gratitude toward U.S. Soldiers who have preserved freedom, and his Family regularly honored their sacrifices at the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten and the Christmas Eve service commemorating the Mass of 1944 in De Schark cave in Maastricht.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can really sense what [the Soldiers] must have felt and also feel the importance of what they do,\u201d he said about the atmosphere at the ceremonies. \u201cI\u2019m proud to be part of this [U.S. Army] team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now his adult daughters come to him and ask about attending these significant events together because of the deep meaning it holds for them.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The U.S. Army birthday] is a big milestone\u2014250 years,\u201d said Luijten. \u201cWhen you look back in history \u2026 it tells how important a good army is. With what\u2019s going on right now in the world, it makes it even more important that we stick together as one to take care of our freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jos Luijten, a Dutch local national, sits at his desk in the master planning division of the Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army Garrison Benelux in Brunssum, the Netherlands, July 14, 2025. He has held seven different positions working for the U.S. Army in the last 43 years. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sandra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545640,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=545638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545643,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545638\/revisions\/545643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/545640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=545638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=545638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=545638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}