On the big screen, a tank drives through the hilly landscape. Suddenly, enemy soldiers appear behind a wall. Sofia Adach grips the black assault rifle tighter, aims and pulls the trigger. Red dots mark their hits on the screen. “Don’t hold your breath while firing, just keep breathing,” said Staff Sergeant Magdalena Porowska. With outstretched arm, she shows the shooter at which angle to hold the assault rifle.
The shooting practice in the simulator is part of a free one-day military training that the Polish army recently offered to civilians. Soldiers show how to use weapons, how to behave in dangerous situations and the basics of orientation in the field. “I think you need such skills, it gives you a greater sense of security,” says Sofia Adach (40).
The fitness trainer is one of a hundred women and men who came to the Polish Armed Forces aeronautical technician training center in Deblin on a chilly fall Saturday. Here, about 140 kilometers south of Warsaw, they follow the one-day course “Train with the army”. The program is offered nationwide at 17 military locations.
The number of troops in the armed forces should be doubled
In Poland there is growing fear of an escalation of the Russian war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine. The EU and NATO country Poland is arming itself en masse against a threat from Moscow. It recently signed multi-billion dollar deals with the United States and South Korea for the supply of new tanks, howitzers and fighter jets.
The number of soldiers in the armed forces must be doubled. In the country of some 38 million inhabitants, the military currently numbers 110,000 soldiers, plus 30,000 members of the voluntary Homeland Security (WOT). In the coming years there should be 250,000 professional soldiers and 50,000 homeland guards.
“The Polish army needs to increase in number to really deter an aggressor,” Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, 53, said recently. Poland has introduced basic voluntary military service – conscription was abolished many years ago. And of course the one-day training should also serve to recruit civilians for the armed forces. But not only: “We want to create the conditions to train as many people as possible in weapon handling, in first aid and in survival skills, for example in making fire or handling water,” says Blaszczak.
«Ukraine war is the beginning of something bigger»
In the shooting simulator in Deblin, Sergeant Porowska encourages the participants. “I want you to shoot as much as possible” For some, it’s not that simple. “First I had to break my barrier to touch a weapon,” says Malgorzata Wos (39). She thinks the training is helpful for not panicking in an emergency.
“I fear that the war in Ukraine is the start of something bigger. And I don’t want to run away from an armed conflict,” says Adam Krakowiak (28). The forklift driver is considering whether he should become a professional soldier or join the voluntary internal security service. The training should help him make the decision.
Outside in the training area, Sergeant Mariusz Starosz explains how to use the hand grenade. “After throwing, immediately take cover, don’t watch where it lands!” he urges the participants.
Still no soldier after a day of training
A little boy scout novel should not be missing during survival training. A skydiving instructor demonstrates how to make a campfire using the back of a knife, firesteel, and birch bark. During the lunch break, participants are given a ration of emergency food – complete with a chemical heater that only needs to be mixed with water. After ten minutes, the food in the aluminum bowl will cook. The men are especially enthusiastic.
“Of course you can’t train people to become a soldier in one day,” says senior midshipman Marcin Chruscicki, who supervises the course. But in a conflict it wouldn’t hurt if as many civilians as possible knew how to use a weapon. In addition, the whole is also an image campaign: “We want to give people a sense of security that the army is there.” (SDA/ymh)