According to Novye Izvestia, under the new bill approved by the Polish government back in August and ratified by the Sejm a couple of weeks ago, by 2010 the size of the armed forces will be reduced from 124,000 to 120,000 people, and the army will be formed only on a professional basis. Moreover, the number of actual soldiers will increase from 76,000 to 90,000. The parliament is expected to approve this bill soon. However, for it to enter into force, it must be signed by President Lech Kaczyński, who wants to keep up to 150,000 people under arms at all times. After all, Kaczyński is a proponent of the broadest possible participation of Poland in international peacekeeping and other military operations. However, none of the Polish leaders have any doubt that conscript troops are insufficiently prepared for international operations.
Overall, the transition to a contract army, according to Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, will cost Polish taxpayers $25 billion, which will have to be spent by 2018. A considerable sum on the scale of Poland! Many experts question the ability of the country's budget to finance the entire set of measures to modernize the armed forces. So in reality, the military reform could drag on for years.
The head of the press service of the Polish General Staff, Sylwester Michalski, complained that the media approached the military reform with too much enthusiasm, which experts from the Ministry of Defense had been developing for two years. When asked why the Poles did not follow the path of neighboring Germany (where conscription and contract soldiers are combined), Mr. Michalski replied that it would be even more expensive: "Our conscripts serve for nine months, during which time they are simply unable to master new equipment, so why keep them?"
However, during the debates on the army issue, a variety of models for forming national armed forces were discussed. For example, the Swiss model. It is worth telling in more detail. All citizens of the Alpine Confederation who have reached the age of 20 and have not chosen alternative civilian service are subject to military conscription for a period of no more than 4 months. Nevertheless, soldiers of this very state are considered among the best trained in the world. Their training begins with a 15-week voluntary military training course for pre-conscripts. And after the army, all reservists undergo regular military training for more than a decade.
Here, 'demobbed' soldiers are divided into three categories. Up to age 32, a former Swiss army soldier is obliged to undergo an annual three-week refresher course at his former unit. The so-called Landwehr, reservists aged 32 to 42, reinforce their soldiering skills only three times in 10 years. Each such training lasts two weeks. And the 'Landsturmists' (i.e., those liable for military service after 42) are content with two-week firing exercises only once every 8 years. Upon reaching age 51, they hand over their combat weapons. In return, the Swiss army, with its nearly five-billion budget, gives the seasoned soldier a pump-action shotgun.
So in the homes of the seven million population of the most peaceful state on earth, by now two million pistols and one and a half million long-barreled weapons, both military and hunting, have accumulated. However, the cadre-militia structure of the armed forces of this traditionally neutral country allows the 22,000-strong regular army corps to be increased to 650,000 in just four hours! And only two days are enough for 1.7 million well-trained fighters to take up positions in the excellently equipped mountain fortifications of Switzerland. Because a Swiss in uniform learns the art of war every hour. No kitchen duties or even guard duty! And at the posts around military facilities in this country stand... armed employees from private security firms (also called ChOP).
Following a similar principle – a minimum of conscript soldiers, a maximum of highly qualified officers and non-commissioned officers ready to take command of reservists at any moment – Austria and Germany build their armies. In Austria, doctors, psychologists, and officers begin selecting future military specialties for conscripts in advance. Young men who have reached 17 and have not expressed a desire to perform one-year alternative service in shelters or nursing homes are tested very thoroughly. If the conscript is a university student, he himself names a documented date for his entry into the army. After completing the eight-week 'basic training course' and taking the oath, every Austrian soldier who has not been in trouble has the right to spend all remaining nights at home. In total, they serve for half a year.
In Germany, visiting home is only allowed on weekends. But the benefits of military service are still so many (free driver's license, training in a profession in demand 'in civilian life', etc.) that only one in ten conscripts expresses a desire to go into fairly well-paid 'alternative service'. Conscripts make up about 30% of the Bundeswehr. The entire personnel of the German Armed Forces is divided into Wehrpflichtig (conscripts for nine months), volunteer contract soldiers (Zeitsoldat), and professional soldiers (Berufssoldat).
An ordinary conscript who decides to link his further life with the army undergoes training in non-commissioned officer and sergeant courses. In the fourth year of service, a non-commissioned officer has the right to enter a school for sergeants. Applications for admission as a professional soldier are usually granted after 10 years of service. By that time, a lad with an unstable character turns into a man. And begins to treat subordinates much more responsibly.