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Poland Conscript Training
Prior to 1990, individual and unit training followed
the
Soviet model because of Poland's regular participation in
joint
Warsaw Pact exercises with the Soviet Union and
northern-tier
allies Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Most conscripts
served
their entire term of active duty as privates or privates
first
class. Outstanding individuals were identified early for
specialized schooling as NCO candidates. NCOs were
required to
commit to four years of additional service after
completing their
schooling. Thirteen warrant officer candidate schools
operated in
1981, offering specialized technical programs of between
one and
three years that included more political indoctrination
than did
programs for NCOs.
The Main Political Administration (Glówne Biuro
Administracji, known in the West by its English-language
acronym,
MPA) was headed by a deputy in the Ministry of National
Defense.
But the MPA also exercised independent authority as a
department
of the PZPR Central Committee; ultimate responsibility was
to the
PZPR, and the head of the MPA was appointed by the PZPR
Secretariat. The MPA conducted political indoctrination in
the
armed forces and counseled the army in personnel policy
making
and appointments. Political officers in Polish People's
Army
units supervised party organizations and communist youth
groups
for conscripts. The most significant youth group was the
Union of
Military Youth, which sought to improve both the moral and
ideological outlook of service personnel, at the same time
reinforcing party control of society. In the 1980s, about
half of
Polish conscripts were members of the union.
In 1989 the first noncommunist government pressed hard
to
reform or replace the MPA. In late 1989, the organization
was
replaced by the Main Education Board (Glówny Zarzad
Wychowawczy--
GZW), and party posts in the military were abolished.
Party
influence on military training continued, however, until
late
1990, when the collapse of the PZPR and of the old state
security
system (together with strong pressure from Parliament),
made
clear to the military establishment that meaningful reform
was
necessary to garner crucial public support.
In the postcommunist years, conscript training has been
limited by the budget. As of mid-1992, no division-scale
exercises had been held since the Warsaw Pact era. Total
exercise
time for trainees was significantly reduced, and items
such as
projectile allotments were limited. Cruises by navy
personnel and
training flights for pilots, both very expensive phases of
training, were curtailed; in 1992 Polish pilots averaged
between
forty and fifty flying hours annually, compared with an
average
of 200 hours for NATO pilots.
Data as of October 1992
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