Croatia is resuming mandatory military training after nearly two decades, with the initial recruits joined by far more volunteers than officials were expecting.?
Beginning this week, 800 Croats are to fan out across three sites, where they will learn a range of combat skills, from shooting an assault rifle, to Krav Maga defense and operating drones. About half of them are volunteers, the other half were drafted.
Authorities aim for most men born in 2007 — about 20,000 Croats — to be trained in batches by the end of this year, with subsequent generations called up after that.
Photo: EPA
As Russia’s war with Ukraine grinds into a fifth year, countries around Europe are boosting their defenses, increasing military spending and introducing military service programs, with Germany pledging to build Europe’s strongest conventional army.
Croatia — a country of 3.9 million people — is the first in the volatile western Balkan region to introduce compulsory basic army training, and is to be joined by neighboring Serbia later this year.
“We are positively surprised with the excellent results of the draft and high number of volunteers,” Croatian Minister of Defense Ivan Anusic said. “Our goal is not to send our young people to the front or into a war, but to equip them with useful skills and teach them how to react in a crisis situation.”
In October, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic discussed the two-month training program in parliament, telling lawmakers that Europe was “trying to respond to changed security circumstances, and this is part of our answer.”
Although Croatia has a professional volunteer army and is a member of NATO, the idea was met with widespread skepticism.
That is largely because while Russia feels far away in this part of Europe, scars from the wars in the 1990s that destroyed former Yugoslavia run deep:
Thousands of men mobilized to defend Croatia after it declared independence were killed in fighting, along with civilians.
The country’s biggest opposition party — the Social Democrats — was among those that argued the program should be mostly voluntary.
Training should be “conscription light, or training for those who are most motivated and most prepared,” party leader Sinisa Hajdas Doncic said.
Its final shape is the result of compromise.
Along with room and board, recruits are to each receive 1,100 euros (US$1,280) a month. Draftees also get priority for public sector jobs. Most women, who can volunteer, but will not be called up, will not benefit from this perk, nor will conscientious objectors, who will instead be allowed to join a civilian service.
Students can defer service until they finish their education, but must enter it before they reach 29 years old. A total of 82 women are among the current batch of volunteers.
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