Croatia could introduce mandatory military service for one month after finishing high school.
Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anusic was tasked with introducing a month of mandatory military training after high school, in which everyone would undergo training in first aid, weapons handling, nuclear and chemical protection, reports Jutarnji list.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic revealed on Monday that talks about military training have been going on for some time.
“In the circumstances of the security threats that exist around the world, it is not bad for the Ministry of Defense of Croatia to make a certain step forward from what is already being done in terms of concept with those who voluntarily serve in the military and prepare the concept of shorter courses so that a wider number of people can become familiar with the basic skills that the younger generations don’t have. I have been talking to ministers Anusic, Bozinovic and Medved on this topic for some time, and we gave Anusic a mandate to come up with a certain concept,” said Plenkovic.
No further details about the training concept are currently known.
However, according to the media in Croatia, it can be expected that it would be based on the concept of basic military training, which in 2017, the then Minister of Defense Damir Krsticevic, today the Prime Minister’s Defense Adviser, wanted to introduce.
At that time, training was based on a voluntary basis, but it is already being considered to make military service mandatory.
The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff then developed a concept based on a one-month military camp, in which young people would undergo the basics of military training on a voluntary basis after completing high school.
It was intended for the participants to go through the handling of small arms and light weapons, shooting, orientation, being in the field, self-protection, first aid, and protection measures against nuclear, chemical and biological effects.
Back then, it was Krsticevic‘s plan B after the idea of re-introducing mandatory military service met with great public resistance. No information was ever released to the public about how much military training would cost, how many military facilities would need to be arranged, and how many young people would be trained annually.
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