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Poland Recruitment and Service Obligations
In 1949 Polish law stipulated universal, obligatory
military
service for males. The Military Service Law of 1967 and
its
amendments set the age of mandatory service at nineteen
and the
age for volunteering for service at seventeen. Failure to
register and failure to report after being drafted were
punishable by fine or imprisonment. The basic term of
service was
two years, except in highly technical positions, where the
term
was three years. The Council of Ministers could add one
year to
the term in case of national need. Soldiers entered the
reserves
after completing active duty. For enlisted personnel,
reserve
status continues until age fifty. For noncommissioned
officers
(NCOs) and officers, reserve status continues until age
sixty.
With permission of the recruitment command, a conscript
could
perform alternative service in a civilian social service
organization, a civil defense unit, or the civilian police
force.
The term of service, housing, and discipline of such
individuals
are similar to those for active-duty personnel. The rank
and
grade structure is similar to that of other armed forces
organizations. There are some variations, however, in the
number
and titles of authorized enlisted, warrant officer and
officer
grades
(see
fig. 16;
fig. 17;
fig. 18).
In 1960 mandatory military training programs were
instituted
in civilian colleges; upon completion, a student was
eligible to
enter reserve status as an NCO or to secure a reserve
commission
in a short officer training program. In 1980 social
resentment of
this privilege and the inadequacy of such a training
program led
to a nominally mandatory one-year term of active duty upon
completion of university studies. In practice, however,
the
training and assignments of graduating college students
usually
were not arduous, and many evaded the obligation entirely.
The first postcommunist regime immediately shortened
the
terms of active duty. Terms in the ground forces dropped
from
twenty-four months to eighteen months, and terms in the
navy and
air forces dropped from thirty-six months to twenty-four
months.
Planners projected an eventual twelve-month term for
ground
forces inductees. An alternative service option was
continued
from the policy established by the Jaruzelski regime in
1988.
In the early 1990s, an average of 250,000 individuals
were
examined yearly by recruiting commissions; fewer than half
entered active duty. Inductions were scheduled for spring
and
fall of each year, but the fall 1991 and spring 1992 calls
were
either limited or eliminated entirely. Experts speculated
that
the change in schedule was caused by a combination of low
budgeting and the lack of eligible individuals; at the
1992
induction rate, Poland's active-duty forces would fall
below the
limitations of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe
(CFE)
Treaty (see Glossary)
that cut the forces of all NATO and Warsaw
Pact nations (see
table 22, Appendix). In mid-1992, some
220,000
billets were listed as filled, compared with the force
level of
300,000 prescribed for that stage of force reduction. Of
the
220,000 billets, about 100,000 were career military and
more than
half were in rear-echelon rather than combat units.
In the early 1990s, cities provided the majority of
recruits,
and students normally received deferments. In 1991 the
armed
forces showed about a 20 percent shortage of officers,
warrant
officers, and junior officers, although interest in
attending
military schools had increased after military reform
began. In
1992 policy makers discussed offering qualified
individuals fiveyear contracts as a means of augmenting skilled military
specialties outside CFE limitations.
In 1990 the government enacted measures to improve
military
housing, living conditions of dependents, pay, and leave.
By 1990
specialized personnel such as jet pilots had begun leaving
the
service in large numbers, partly because of personnel
cutbacks
but also because low pay, low prestige, and outdated
equipment
were not commensurate with the rigorous entrance and
training
requirements for their specialties. Because the military
doctrine
of the 1990s would rely heavily on sophisticated equipment
and
skilled personnel, improving service conditions for such
individuals was an important planning goal in the early
1990s.
Data as of October 1992
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