At the beginning of the year the Czech Republic had 27,197 soldiers, 22,866 of whom served directly in the military. Photo: Freepik.
Prague, April 11 (CTK) – Over 80,000 Czechs showed interest in serving in the military in the past decade, the Czech army stated on its website yesterday. During the same period, over 16,000 men and women were recruited as career soldiers and another 4,500 joined the active reserves.
The publishing of this data was to mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Personnel Affairs Agency, which is responsible for recruitment for the military.
The personnel service worked throughout the existence of the armed forces of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, and also worked in Czechoslovak foreign units.
Ten years ago, the Personnel Affairs Agency was founded, reporting directly to the chief of staff. The current director of the agency is Colonel Vladimir Studeny.
It is in charge of recruitment as well as education of soldiers.
“It monitors the soldiers’ careers, assessing their professional preparedness, examining the atmosphere in teams and preparing them for civilian careers,” the military said.
Over the ten years of its existence, the agency has recorded over 80,000 people interested in serving in the military, over 16,000 of whom were recruited as career soldiers. Out of 11,000 applicants, it accepted almost 4,500 for active reserve.
For this year, the Defence Ministry set a recruitment goal of 2,200 people, 500 of whom are to be graduates from the University of Defence.
The recruitment process will be supported by a virtual centre, which the Defence Ministry plans to set up soon.
Under the Concept of Build-up of the Military, the Czech Republic is to have 30,000 career soldiers and 10,000 members of active reserves by 2030.
Achieving this goal is the Army’s biggest challenge, Studeny said.
“We need physically competent, psychologically resilient people, able to fulfil difficult tasks, while using state-of-the-art technology,” he added.
According to the press department of the general staff, at the beginning of the year the Czech Republic had 27,197 soldiers, 22,866 of whom served directly in the military. The active reserve had 4,191 members at the beginning of the year.
The Personnel Affairs Agency also monitors soldiers’ careers. It assesses their professional qualities, keeps records of them, and is in charge of their training. The agency also sends both soldiers and civilian employees to language and professional courses, including abroad.