Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić said that they are working on three scenarios for the length of military service, which should be known next week. He stated that it will not be implemented this year, and emphasized that the point is not how long the training will last, but how efficient and effective it will be.
After the ceremonial promotion of the cadets at the Croatian Military Academy (HVU) in Zagreb, Anušić reminded that Croatia is seriously planning to introduce mandatory military service and that it is developing proposals with the Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia and the employees of the Armed Forces.
“Soon we will have three proposals that will elaborate three scenarios, i.e. three possible ways of length of military service. We should have it next week. I will submit it to the Prime Minister (Andrej Plenković) and the President (Zoran Milanović) for their review and agree with the Prime Minister on further steps, how, in what way and from when to implement the military service,” said the minister.
This will be made public after a political decision has been agreed upon, Anušić stressed.
In the case of a great threat, aggression, all men aged 18 or under are conscripted
At this moment, he did not want to “bid” with months, but from his perspective and experience, three months are enough to acquire military skills.
“It is incredible that the public is more interested in how long it will last than the content of that training, and that is not the point. The point is not how long the training will last, how long the military service will last, but how efficient and effective it will be,” Anušić said.
This year, it will not be possible to start implementing it because serious infrastructural interventions are needed within the system of facilities of the armed forces, i.e. barracks and accommodation facilities, the minister added.
He pointed out that it is a big logistical and financial project.
All those who are conscripts will have to join the army, and they should learn military skills during their military service.
“When you go into the training process, there is something called handling, handling lethal means – automatic rifle, sniper, mortar, something else. After that there is a part related to knowledge, military tactics and the application of military tactics in certain situations – defense, attack, something third. And there is a third, also very important part of it, which is the physical preparedness of that person,” Anušić explained.
At the same time, he stated that three months are enough for a person from a state of complete physical unpreparedness and not having the habit of playing sports to completely change his physical condition.
“In three months you can go from someone who can’t run 50 meters to being able to do a serious 30-kilometer march with equipment, you can do a 3,200-meter run, which is a level that everyone should be able to do,” said Anušić.
Speaking about the generations that would enter the process of military training, we are talking about 17,000 young men, while women will be able to volunteer, but will not have an obligation.
The minister said that there will certainly be resistance to that idea, but that “we must be aware that military service is not just something that prepares a person for a possible future conflict”.
“The point of military service and military training is not only to go to war, which I hope and think will not happen, but to be socialized in a specific and different way, so that some bad habits may be changed and some others accepted in the phase of growing up in the most sensitive years “, pointed out Anušić.
As an example, he cited getting up and going to bed on time, not having a laptop or screen ‘in front of him 24 hours a day’, adding that this experience will help them in their future lives. He emphasized that military service or military training have no alternatives, that is, that civilian protection cannot replace it.
“In case of any major threat, aggression, all men between 18 and a certain age are conscripts and can be mobilized, whether they have military training or not,” said Anušić, pointing out that it might be better for them to have it.
