In recent days, the media have published a great deal of information about reserve exercises planned for 2023. Call-ups to Military Recruitment Centres are being received by people who have previously served in or trained with the military (the active reserve), as well as those whose only contact with the military was during a military medical examination (military qualification). This is the so-called passive reserve. It is the call-ups of the latter group that are causing the most controversy. The media buzz surrounding the issue has become so significant that the Head of the Central Military Recruitment Centre Colonel Mirosław Bryś.
Quoted by businessinsider.com.pl, Colonel Bryś said the following about calling up the so-called passive reserve: “I assume that this will be a minimum number of people. People who have completed the qualification process and have been assigned a category, but have not undergone military training,” he explained. When asked about the specific number, he mentioned three thousand people, such as doctors, nurses, IT specialists and drivers.
As we read on businessinsider.com.pl:
Such people are to be invited to military recruitment centres, where they will be presented with a proposal to take part in reserve exercises. The exercises are to last two days and will be held at weekends. During the exercises, recruits will familiarise themselves with military equipment and be assigned to a specific military unit.
It will be possible to choose the date of the exercise and the unit where it will take place. An appeal against the decision may be filed within 14 days. The refusal will have to be justified, for example by health or employment circumstances.
Czy należy przywrócić pobór i obowiązkową służbę wojskową?
Information about the reserve exercises planned for next year, and the call-ups of the passive reserve, also appeared on the Facebook profile of the Wojskowego Centrum Rekrutacji w Bolesławcu:
Dear Sir or Madam,
With reference to inaccuracies that have appeared in the media concerning the draft Regulation of the Council of Ministers on determining the number of people who may perform military service in the reserve in 2023 as part of military exercises, we would like to explain and clarify the information:
In 2023, call-ups for military exercises will mainly concern people who have been assigned mobilisation appointments. The figure of “up to 200,000” people called up for exercises has not changed compared with 2022 and does not mean that this number will necessarily be reached.
People from the passive reserve who are called up for military exercises are those who:
- have regulated their status regarding military service,
- are not performing any other type of military service,
- and are under 55 years of age.
When calling up people from the passive reserve for exercises, we make limited use of the potential of people who have desirable and useful qualifications for the needs of the Polish Armed Forces but have not previously undergone military training.
Under the Homeland Defence Act (Article 2, point 36), the term “regulated status regarding military service” means assigning a person a category of fitness for military service and transferring them to the passive reserve.
In practice, everyone who has completed military qualification and been assigned a military category is transferred to the passive reserve. A summons to a WCR does not amount to a decision to call someone up for exercises. Only after confirming that the selected person meets the call-up requirements is a decision to call them up for exercises issued.
A call-up for military exercises is carried out in the form of an administrative decision, which may be appealed against under the rules set out in the Code of Administrative Procedure (14 days). During the COVID pandemic, military qualification procedures were not conducted, and reserve exercises were carried out to a very limited extent.
At the same time, I would like to inform you that military exercises may be:
- one-day,
- short-term—lasting continuously for up to 30 days,
- long-term—lasting continuously for up to 90 days,
- rotational—lasting a total of up to 30 days and held intermittently on specified days during a given calendar year.
The commander of the unit is responsible for conducting the exercises and determines the detailed manner in which they are carried out, including the tasks and the nature of the soldier’s service.