Poland - Military Personnel

A NATO member since 1999, by end-2021 Poland had some 111,500 professional soldiers and 32,000 volunteer territorial troops. In May 2023, the Minister of Defense of Poland, Mariusz Blaszczak, reported that the Polish army had 172,000 servicemen. The country's authorities are trying in every way to implement an ambitious plan to increase the number of national armed forces to 300 thousand people.

The Minister of Defense of Poland, Wladyslaw Kosyniak-Kamysh, said that the country's defense department has decided to increase the size of the Polish army by the end of 2024. According to him, the number of Polish Armed Forces will gradually increase. "At the end of this year, our army will have about 220,000 soldiers. This number will increase every year," the Minister of Defense said. He also noted that the size of the army is "very important", but not more than the operational capabilities and potential of civil defense and added that "this is what they will bet on".

Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced 15 August 2024 that changes to regulations will be made in the coming days that will allow servicemen to grow long beards and have tattoos on exposed areas of the body. "Until now, military personnel could have a beard up to 5 mm and only on the recommendation of a dermatologist. As for tattoos, they were only allowed on closed parts of the body.

The Commissioner for Military Service Conditions clarified that the changes to the regulations will come into force on September 1. According to them, servicemen will be allowed to have facial hair, which must be “neat and aesthetically pleasing” and not interfere with the performance of tasks. Soldiers will also be allowed to have tattoos not only on hidden parts of the body. Such concessions for military personnel are aimed at increasing the attractiveness of service in the Polish Army.

On 18 March 2022, President Andrzej Duda signed the Act on the Defence of the Homeland. The document is based on three main pillars. These are an increase in funding for the Armed Forces, the introduction of universal defence and an increase in the size of the Polish Army. The president act on the defense of the fatherland provided for an increase in the number of the army to 300,000 soldiers, modernization of the armed forces and increasing expenditure for this purpose to 3% of GDP in 2023 (compared to 2.2% of GDP this year). All this is to increase the professional army from 111,000 currently up to 250,000 professional soldiers. The number of people serving in the Territorial Defense Forces is also expected to increase from 32,000 up to 50,000 On June 6, Minister Mariusz Blaszczak inaugurated the first training of volunteers for voluntary basic military service.

On 15 June 2022, the head of the Ministry of National Defense inaugurated the next stage of the Become a Soldier of the Republic of Poland campaign and informed about the exercises for volunteers planned in the Polish Army. The Polish Army has prepared over 20,000 places in 40 military units across the country for people who want to take part in reserve training or preparatory training, and then tie their future into a uniform. The offer applies to both those who have the status of a reserve soldier and those for whom it will be the first contact with the Polish Armed Forces. During 28 days of training, volunteers will learn the basics of military craftsmanship, including regulations, drill, rules of using weapons and other military equipment. The training ends with a military oath.

Currently, there is no compulsory military service in the Polish army. However, every man at the age of 19 is required to undergo the so-called military qualification, during which a doctor assesses the suitability of a young man for service in the army. Accordingly, four categories of fitness and ability are allocated to the military.

• A - fit for active military service;
• B - temporarily incapable of active military service;
• D - incapable of active military service in peacetime;
• E - permanently and completely incapable of active military service in peacetime and during war mobilization.

A medical commission decides on granting a specific military category on the basis of tests and, if necessary, also observations in the hospital, medical documentation and information collected during the medical interview. Formally, health assessment is regulated by the ordinance of the Minister of National Defense of 2018. Poland’s army said 18 May 2022 it was launching a new form of military service amid security concerns because of the war in neighbouring Ukraine. The Polish military said volunteers will be able to provide a year’s paid service that can be turned into long-term or professional service. Those who enter the program will go through a 28-day training period with a military unit, and then perform 11 months of service. They will receive a pre-tax monthly salary of some 4,500 zlotys ($1,000). The first volunteers will be able to enlist from 21 May 2022.

A public opinion survey conducted in March 2022 for the Warsaw Enterprise Institute by Maison&Partners and in cooperation with Defence24.pl shows that in the event of a war, 66 percent of adult Poles declare their readiness to defend the country, of which 49 percent means activities that do not require an active fight, and 17 percent – fighting on the front. "It shows that about 3.8 million adult Poles aged 18–65 are ready to take up arms. This is 10 times the number of Russia’s land armed forces, so they have no chance of any conquest or occupation – but there is one condition: these people must be trained and get weapons on time, which involves immediate implementation of the concept of Universal Defence" commented Piotr Malecki, president of Defence24 and vice-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Warsaw Enterprise Institute. In mid-July 2021, PiS president Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced that a program of expansion and "very serious" strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces was being prepared. The head of the Ministry of National Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced an army of 250,000, would then reach approximately the size of the French army (now it has about 270,000 soldiers). The number of soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces (Territorial Defense Forces) was to increase to 50,000. This would have to result in at least doubling the budget of the Armed Forces. The head of the Ministry of National Defense recalled that the outlays and defense would increase. In 2020, they were 2.37 percent. GDP, and by 2030 it is expected to amount to 2.5 percent. GDP. - But these are also too low amounts - assessed Blaszczak. Blaszczak emphasized that the law prepared by the Committee for National Security and Defense Affairs would be presented this autumn . "These documents will create the basis for increasing the size of the Polish Army, and the financing mechanism will be the basic element of this act" - emphasized the head of the Ministry of National Defense.

The plan presented at the 26 October 2021 press conference by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Mariusz Blaszczak is aimed at "making Poland a militarily strong country". The document was created as a result of the work of the team at the Ministry of National Defense and is to replace 14 other legal acts. The most important of them is the Act of 1967. Here are its assumptions:

• Voluntary essential military service will appear. It will be voluntary. Volunteers will complete 28 days of basic training followed by 11 months of detailed training. Those who complete it will be able to join the professional service
• Qualified reservists will have priority in recruiting for professional military service
• Cadets will be included in the military service
• Reserve military service will be divided into active and passive service - passive service will include persons qualified to the reserve without taking an oath and persons who took the oath but are not interested in serving in the military
• The new act is also intended to increase the size of the Polish Army to 250,000. professional soldiers and 50 thousand. soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces
• There are also plans to introduce new incentive benefits. 1.5 thousand PLN for those who decide to stay in the service after 25 years, and 2.5 thousand. PLN - after 28 years
• A new type of army will be created. Cyberspace defense forces will be sanctioned at the statutory level
• A new military rank will be introduced - senior private specialist
• The Ministry of National Defense also wants to provide 24-month employment protection for soldiers of voluntary military service who decide to become professional soldiers
• It will apply, inter alia, the obligation for soldiers to undergo drug testing at the commander's request
• It will be possible to dismiss a soldier from service in the event of behavior that violates the dignity and honor of the soldier or does not respect the seriousness of service, and behavior that is detrimental to the good name and interest of the armed forces - even before a final judgment is issued
• At the same time, provisions were also proposed allowing for the reimbursement of legal costs for soldiers against whom the criminal proceedings conducted in connection with the performance of official duties were discontinued.
• Anti-corruption regulations will be proposed that will apply to those soldiers who are or will be responsible for transactions related to the purchase of equipment for the Polish Army

In the Personnel Policy Development Plan of the Polish Armed Forces in 2017–2026, the size of the Armed Forces was set at the level of 120,000 full-time positions, of which 100,000 were professional soldiers and candidates for professional soldiers, and 20,000 soldiers of the National Reserve Forces. This document had nothing to do with reality, because the National Reserve Forces were being phased out and would be suspended by January 1, 2023 (now there were only 500 of these soldiers), at the same time the Territorial Defense Forces (about 30,000) are being built.

National Reserve Forces (NSR - Narodowe Sily Rezerwowe) is a civic volunteer military service was established in Poland in the second half of 2010 pursuant to amendments to the act on the universal obligation to defend the Republic of Poland ( Journal of Laws of 2021, item 372 ). In 2018, they numbered around 12,000 soldiers. The National Reserve Forces are not a separate type of the Polish Armed Forces, but their purpose is to provide staff to supplement jobs in each of the five types of the Polish Armed Forces. The National Reserve Forces are made up of reserve soldiers who have voluntarily concluded a contract for military service in reserve and remain at their disposal to perform tasks in the event of real military and non-military threats, both at home and abroad. It is a selected, voluntary resource of reserve soldiers who have crisis assignments for specific service positions in military units.

In January 2016, Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that Poland's armed forces, which currently numbered about 95,000 personnel, would grow to 150,000 in the coming years. Macierewicz announced 20 April 2016 that the Polish army had plans to increase in size in the coming years. Speaking to journalists at the opening of a new headquarters for NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) in Bydgoszcz, central Poland, Macierewicz said that the army would grow by at least 50%, and would include both new territorial defense forces and operating units. The three new territorial defense brigades will be deployed by the beginning of 2017, Macierewicz clarified. The reason for the massive planned increase, the minister claimed, was the "threat from Russia, and its occupation of parts of Ukraine."

The army is the institution which is responsible for protecting the state and defending the community. Combat is its raison d’être, the very purpose of its existence, and it is bound by the specific constraints of rules regarding unity, hierarchy, discipline and compliance with orders.

With the end of the Cold War, given reduced force levels, fewer individuals were needed; however, reduced terms of active duty created faster turnover. At the same time, reliance on sophisticated electronics, especially in the air force, made recruitment, training, and retention of highly qualified individuals more important. And the availability of qualified personnel was influenced by society's general attitude toward the military and by availability of employment in the civilian economy.

In 1949 Polish law stipulated universal, obligatory military service for males. The Military Service Law of 1967 and its amendments set the age of mandatory service at nineteen and the age for volunteering for service at seventeen. Failure to register and failure to report after being drafted were punishable by fine or imprisonment. The basic term of service was two years, except in highly technical positions, where the term was three years. The Council of Ministers could add one year to the term in case of national need. Soldiers entered the reserves after completing active duty. For enlisted personnel, reserve status continued until age fifty. For noncommissioned officers (NCOs) and officers, reserve status continued until age sixty.

In 1960 mandatory military training programs were instituted in civilian colleges; upon completion, a student was eligible to enter reserve status as an NCO or to secure a reserve commission in a short officer training program. In 1980 social resentment of this privilege and the inadequacy of such a training program led to a nominally mandatory one-year term of active duty upon completion of university studies. In practice, however, the training and assignments of graduating college students usually were not arduous, and many evaded the obligation entirely.

In the early 1990s, cities provided the majority of recruits, and students normally received deferments. In 1991 the armed forces showed about a 20 percent shortage of officers, warrant officers, and junior officers, although interest in attending military schools had increased after military reform began.

The professionalization process had been an element of military/defence reforms in Poland since the early 1990s. Implementation of professional AF was recommended by the Strategic Defence Review (SDR 2006). Intention and indicative plan of professionalization was included in the "2007-2012 PAF Development Programme”. This led the establishment of the Professionalization Team of the PAF and Department of Transformation in early 2007. The last conscription into military service came in December 2008. The realisation of the Armed Forces professionalisation program in 2008-2010 represented the period of the most important changes.

The final batch of conscripts were moved from full service to the Reserves in June 2009, thus ending 90 years of military conscription. “For the first time there will be no conscripts in the Polish army,” Defence Minister Klick told reporters. The month saw 12,000 soldiers discharged. Asked what would happen to those who had avoided conscription Klich replied “We’ll find a mild solution to this issue - individual cases will be judged on an individual basis.”

"I definitely won’t agree for compulsory conscription, I won’t support return to universal one. The quality of soldiers from universal conscription, in terms of skills, isn’t what Polish defences need in the first place" the Prime Minister pointed out 07 March 2014.

According to the Prime Minister, what can be considered is an attempt at supplementing the defence capacity with trained groups which operate today as part of various other formations. "It is voluntary participation: we would like people who are ready to defend their homeland at critical moments to do it with full conviction" the head of the government said. "We have sufficient resources of trained people to include also them as a personnel reserve for the Polish army in case of future operations" Tusk concluded.

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz signed on 10 March 2015 an executive order expanding the scope of drafting men for military exercises. Under the order, the government may draft all men deemed capable of military service, including those who had no prior experience of military service. Previously, only reservists with a stint in the forces could be called up. Poland abandoned conscription in the late 1990s, meaning that only men in their late 30s and older are likely to have served in the army - except those who have volunteered to do so since.

Some 12,000 were to be called for throughout the year 2015. The army may call up any male aged between 18 and 60 with a satisfactory medical history. They would not be informed about the whereabouts of the military unit beforehand so as to ensure reliable results of the test. Exercises are conducted in line with plans to check the operational and mobilisation readiness in the Armed Forces in 2015, and stem from the [army’s] need to accumulate well-trained reserve troops. While the Ministry has refrained from disclosing the location of the military unit drawing its first reservists, officials put the number of summoned men at several hundred.

Reserve National Forces are an indispensable component of the PAF. While their main mission is the defense of home territory, they could be used to augment forces in operations abroad. The Law on reserves is in the Act of the General Defence Obligation of the Republic of Poland.

The first few months of 2015 witnessed a 7 percent increase in support for returning to universal military conscription. “One should consider the rise in support as very dynamic and providing ground that the percentage of Poles willing to undergo military training […] shall keep increasing,” Marcin Duma from Institute for Market and Social Research (IBRiS) told Polish Radio.

Poland has always been very active in peace-keeping operations. Until 1999, more than 45,000 Polish military personnel have participated in 52 peacekeeping and humanitarian missions established and organised by the United Nations. Already back in 1953, when the armistice agreement was signed on 27 July at Panmunjom, Polish military officers joined two international commissions established to supervise compliance with the conditions of the cease-fire agreement. More than 1000 Polish officers and NCOs have served in those commissions. The Polish Armed Forces have taken part in many other missions, among others on the Golan Heights, in Lebanon, Krajina, the Sinai Peninsula, Namibia and Cambodia. All in all, 25,000 Polish military personnel served in Afghanistan since Poland joined the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2002.

Defence training is an element of non-military defence preparation. It significantly contributes to raising the level of competence, skills and expertise of employees and management staff responsible for the efficient operation of elements of the state defence. The coordination of defence training courses conducted by ministers directing government administration divisions and voivodes is exercised by the Prime Minister through the Minister of National Defence.

Defence training at a central level is conducted through Higher Defence Courses for public administration authorities and for public administration personnel. Training is also provided to employees of organization units that implement defence-related production and service tasks. Major organizing functions relating to planning, conducting and financing defence training fall under the competencies of government authorities, while training courses for local government falls under the competencies of marshals, voivodes, district governors (starosta), heads of municipalities (wójt), town and city mayors.

Defence training is also conducted in the form of practical exercises, including trainings and games. They are an important element of the state’s defence preparations which serves the purpose of verifying adopted operational and strategic concepts and organization and functional arrangements in the area of national defence.

Training in general self-defence of the population is also conducted and its purpose is to prepare the population for self-defence against weapons of mass destruction, including also teaching practical skills of health, life and property self-protection and of providing aid to injured persons. Training of the population in general self-defence is done in the form of basic courses or practical exercises.