This summer, the Polish Army introduced the “Holidays with the Army” program, open to all Polish citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. Despite its name, it is not a holiday, but a 28-day military training program paid the equivalent of about 1,400 euros. During this period, those who have signed up cannot leave the bases to which they have been assigned, 70 throughout the country, and they learn some combat and survival techniques. At the end of the month, they vow to “loyally serve the Republic of Poland […] even at the cost of losing their lives or blood” and choose whether to officially join the army or become reservists, i.e. citizens who can be called up to temporarily return to the army for exercises or in the event of a crisis.
The military created the program with the aim of increasing its troops at a time when Russia, after invading Ukraine in early 2022, is considered a threat to the country and the region. Poland borders both Ukraine, which has been fighting against Russia for two years, and Belarus, a very close ally of the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on which it depends on an economic and military level. Poland is also a member of NATO, the military alliance that includes most Western countries. Polish Defense Ministry spokesman Major Michal Tomczyk told ad Associated Press that “such a threat” had not occurred “since the Second World War.”
The army said the response to “Holidays with the Army” was very positive: 10,000 people were expected to attend, and more than 11,000 signed up. Many of them have just finished high school.
Some enrolled in the “Holidays with the Army” program during training in Nowogrod, Poland (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine began, pressure has also increased on neighboring states, which fear that the war currently limited to Ukrainian territory could expand. For now this has not happened, mainly because many of these countries are also members of NATO: in Article 5 of its founding treaty the alliance provides for a mutual defense mechanism, whereby if one member state is attacked the others are required to intervene in his defense.
However, the situation has led many countries to review their ideas on disarmament, neutrality and the size of their armies: Sweden and Finland have joined NATO after decades of neutrality and some countries are considering reintroducing compulsory military service . In the case of Poland these fears are particularly serious due to its geographical proximity to Belarus and Ukraine.
At the end of 2022 there were a few days of tension when a missile landed in a Polish town on the border with Ukraine and killed two people. Subsequent analysis established that it was most likely a Ukrainian missile that had gone off course, and therefore not an intentional attack by Russia against a NATO country. Such events have not occurred in Poland since then, but in recent months the Polish government has said that some Russian missiles briefly entered its airspace on their way to Ukraine: in one case Russia denied responsibility.
In August 2023, Poland deployed 10,000 soldiers on the border with Belarus in support of the border police. Poland’s then defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, said that sending the army to the border with Belarus was to “scare the aggressor so that he does not dare to attack us.” However, relations between Poland and Belarus have not been good for years: even before the start of the war in Ukraine, Poland accused Belarus of voluntarily pushing migrant people to its border to put pressure on the European Union, of which Poland it is a member state. In 2022, Poland had built a wall for this very reason, but the clashes between the Polish border police and migrant people did not end and recently led to the killing of a Polish soldier.
