Czech military struggling to meet recruitment goals, but compulsory military service not on the cards
At the opening of an exhibition marking 20 years since the abolition of compulsory military service in the Czech lands, Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka admitted that the military is struggling to meet its recruitment goals. He said radical action is needed to be taken since the army was becoming uncompetitive on the labour market.
Recruitment to the armed forces is not going as well as it should, this year’s numbers are not good and the overall trend is not good, Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka told reporters in an unusually frank statement this week.
Although he did not specify the numbers, Defense Ministry reports say that at the beginning of this year, the army had 27,800 soldiers and over 4,000 active reserves. According to its strategic plans, by 2030 it wants to have 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 active reserves.
According to Řehka, what is important for the army is not only the number of new recruits gained, but the difference between how many people leave and how many join the forces. Moreover, the army’s cooperation with schools and recruitment videos showcasing the advantages of a career in the military do not appear to be working as well as expected, he said.
“Despite all our efforts to gain new recruits we have not been able to meet our set targets. In the future, the army will have to take more radical measures to change the situation, including, among other things, more benefits for soldiers. Because the army is becoming uncompetitive on the labour market."
Řehka said the army was consulting a set of short and medium term proposed measures with the Defense Ministry that could help to improve the situation.
He ruled out the idea of renewed compulsory military service, saying that the concept as such was “unrealistic” in the present day and age, since there is no social consensus on it. However, he said the lack of recruits must be addressed in view of the worsening global security situation.
The army chief of staff said that expanding the army’s active reserves would increase the resilience of society.
“The war in Ukraine has shown us how important it is for the state to have an overview of how many people it can rely on to defend the country and in what way. The army has lost track of that and the numbers of people able to make a contribution are dwindling. Since compulsory military service ended in 2004, tens of thousands of people have been leaving the active reserves every year and we have been unable to replace them,” Řehka stressed.
In the summer of this year the armed forces organized a month-long pilot army training program for over 100 Czech high school students. They will remain in the army’s active reserves. They will not be going on any drills, but if the security situation worsens, the state can call them up on a priority basis. Between now and 2030 it needs to gain 6,000 more such volunteers.
