Poland wants to have its citizens prepared to face a warso you have activated a universal basic civil instruction program. Starting November 22, every citizen will be able to access the program called ‘On Guard’ through an application on their mobile phone. Its objective is to provide instruction to half a million volunteers between the end of this year and throughout 2026. The training will include from first aid to standards of survivalas well as combat skills. It is, according to Warsaw, the largest civil defense program in Polish history.
“Poland’s security depends on a strong army, a strong military alliance and the ability of its society to defend itself,” said the Defense Minister, Wladyslaw Kosikiak-Kamyszwhen presenting his program in a Warsaw barracks. Poland’s commitment to the defense of NATO eastern flank It is “demonstrated,” he added, to remember that his country is the European ally that spends the most on military spending —4.8 of GDP this year–. It is also determined to continue increasing it until it reaches 5%. That is, according to the objectives demanded by the United States of its European partners.
From schoolchildren to retirees
The ‘On Guard’ program is aimed at “all Polish citizens” who until now have not received military training, whether they are primary and secondary school children or retirees, as well as aspiring to enter a military career. It is a broad-spectrum plan in a country where military service is mandatory for all men aged 19 and over.
The universal training plan must become, according to the minister, an expression of the shared will to “be prepared” as a society and individually in the face of military aggression. For Poland, war is a real threat, at the latest since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The outbreak of war took the Ukrainian population by surprise. We will be prepared for any scenario,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz.
The instruction that volunteers will receive is distributed in several modules, adaptable to the age and situation of their recipients. It consists of individual sections and group training. 132 regional centers will be set up throughout the country, where the interested party will go once they have registered through the ‘Obywatel’ application. Those of legal age will receive instruction and combat skills, while the minors will learn to handle themselves in emergency situations, to calibrate the alarms now search shelters in case of attack. Situations of conventional war aggression as cyber attacks.
The Department of Defense has been preparing instructors for its volunteers for six months. The first phase will be activated from the key date of November 22. The purpose is to reach the first 100,000 volunteers before the end of the year. The remaining 400,000 will be distributed during 2026. A bill for the so-called “Uniform Family Card”which will give access to a series of advantages o discounts to up to 1.5 million citizens.
The ‘total defense’ of the Finnish model
Since the invasion of UkrainePoland has skyrocketed its investments in Defense and has moved towards the objective of 5% military spending since its status as a country. key on NATO’s eastern flank. Currently, the number of active soldiers is 220,000, to which are added almost one and a half million reservists. There is no dissent in Defense among its main political forces, in a country where the fear of Russia It is deeply rooted, long before the aggression against Ukraine.
The Polish concept of widespread training is similar to what Finland has practiced even in its times of theoretical military neutrality and profitable trade relations with Russia, before fast-track entry into NATO in 2023. Finlandwith 1,340 kilometers of border with Russia, bases its defense plan on a civil scale on a network of 50,000 bunkers capable of providing shelter to more than four million citizensin a country with 5.6 million inhabitants. It has a modern army, with 24,000 active soldiers and almost 900,000 reservists.
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