The Polish Minister of Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, advanced on Monday some details of the universal military training program announced last Friday by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and explained that he will be voluntary and will be aimed at both men and women.
According to Kosiniak-Kamysz, military training will have two modalities: basic and expanded training, and all citizens who wish to acquire military training voluntarily will have the opportunity to integrate into the specialty that best suits their skills according to an “interactive plan” of training.
The minister indicated that professionally active people who want to go through a military training period will receive a “state compensation.” In addition, the head of Defense added that the already retired military will be able to participate in the program as instructors.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Defense, Cezary Tomczyk, suggested that this program could enter into force “before next year”, as Tusk announced last week, and stressed that “in the” next days we will present the rest of the details, but the most important thing is that we want it to be a universal and voluntary program. “
Last Friday, Tusk referred in Parliament to a National Plan for “Military Training for each Adult” Polish man in preparation for a possible war, while the statements of this Monday of the Minister of Defense extend the scope of that project to women and refer to what will be voluntary.
In his speech, Tusk mentioned that several models were “considering, being the Swiss model one of the most appreciated”, where training is not mandatory but there are incentives for annual training.
Poland has been significantly intensifying its military efforts for years, with an increase in defense spending, which reached 4.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year and which is expected to reach 4.7% in this year, the highest in NATO in percentage terms. .
In addition to the modernization of its army through the acquisition of new equipment, Poland has set the objective of increasing the size of its armed forces and reaching 500,000 troops, including reservists.
