Next year, the Polish army plans to call up about 200,000 civilians, reservists, volunteers and citizens without experience in the army, who will undergo military training in barracks, the EFE agency reported on Thursday, quoted by Agerpres.

The training program will last two weeks for 28,580 Poles who have signed up as volunteers and for approximately 38,000 reservists who have undergone military training in recent years.

More than 130,000 citizens without military experience will also be drafted, for whom the training program will be held on weekends. The selection criteria for this second group have not been disclosed.

On the other hand, the Polish army will receive another 17,128 new professional soldiers next year.

The Polish army wants to increase its forces to 250,000

Although compulsory military service has been abolished in Poland since 2009, the current government in Warsaw decided to strengthen the security contingent by creating in 2017 the Territorial Defense Forces, a paramilitary formation that consists of about 30,000 volunteers and whose personnel the Ministry of Defense wants to supplement them with 50 thousand

The Polish army plans to increase its total strength to 250,000 troops, up from 110,000 now, and in the context of the war in Ukraine, it recently began offering military training and survival programs to all interested citizens between the ages of 18 and 65.

Voluntary military service for young Poles was also established this summer, with participants receiving a monthly salary of 1,000 euros as an incentive and numerous tax breaks, scholarships and soft loans.

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