The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zukan Helez, announced today the activation of the reserve force of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since due to the complex constitutional structure of the state it is difficult to reach a solution on the introduction of mandatory military service.
Although he would personally like to see the model of military service in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina return in Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to the complicated decision-making procedure, this is not possible, but, promised the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Helez, the reserve force will be activated.
“Due to the wars and aggression of the Russian Federation on Ukraine, the war in the Middle East that threatens to ignite the entire planet, many countries, and not only the countries of the Western Balkans, are considering the introduction of military service. Our neighbors, Serbia and Croatia, are also announcing this, however, in our country it is very difficult given the complex constitutional structure,” Helez said during a visit to the Anadolu Agency Office for BiH in Sarajevo.
He stated that as a man, not only now and not only because of these wars, he would like to have military service in “Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
“These are children who graduate from high school and move from adolescence into the period of maturation. And when I go back to that period when I was that age, I think that it would be very good for maturation and strengthening of personality. Because, a certain type of discipline and habits that you learn and acquire there you carry throughout your life, and of course that would be good for the defense of the homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Helez pointed out.
However, since we know that it is very difficult to implement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Helez, that is, that it requires the consent of several factors, that is, political subjects, other solutions are being sought.
“I have initiated and it is almost finished to activate the reserve force. We have the right to 50 percent of the total number of the Armed Forces of BiH, and we number around 10,000 members, according to the decision of the Presidency of BiH. This means that we can have around 5,000 reservists. This is a new, different form and model according to NATO standards. First of all, we would start with people who are in short supply within the Armed Forces of BiH, and these are some professions – civil engineers, architectural engineers, doctors, craftsmen in certain professions and some people we train. And they retire at around 55 because that is the law, and people are at their best age and have a lot of experience. So we are working on two things now, the first is the reserve force, and the second is the extension of the work limit in the Armed Forces of BiH,” said Helez, AA writes.
