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Belarus Manpower, Education, and Training
In 1995 conscription was for eighteen months, with
alternative service available. In 1994 reserve forces
numbered
approximately 289,500 members with military service in the
previous five years.
In the early 1990s, an issue in the training of troops
was
the teaching and use of the Belarusian language. There was
resistance in the Ministry of Defense and in the armed
forces
themselves to the idea of using the Belarusian language;
officials claimed that the Belarusian armed forces were
being
"politicized." But little progress had been made in 1994
toward
the use of Belarusian in the military, as called for by
the draft
law entitled About the Armed Forces of the Republic of
Belarus,
which stipulated the use of both the Belarusian and
Russian
languages, with a gradual transition to Belarusian.
Data as of June 1995
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