We are observing the process of domesticating Poles with supposedly inevitable war with Russia. As part of the implementation of this direction, on the 1 hand, Poles are systematically bombarded with information about Russian plans to invade Poland, in order to confirm them that this attack is inevitable.
On the another hand, he is convinced of the rapidly increasing strength of the Polish army. Governmental politicians are keen to emphasise that Poland has a second land army from the European NATO countries to Turkey. Fear is exacerbated, it tames the inevitable war and at the same time builds the belief that we are a "local military power".
Territorial Defence Army
So let us look at the military condition of this local power. Without a doubt, the number of soldiers has increased importantly over the last decade. This was mainly due to the creation of a fresh kind of troops in 2017, which became the Territorial Defence Army. The formation has strengthened many sincere patriots and enthusiasts of military subjects, frequently these people surpass not only their morale, but besides cognition in the military field of professional soldiers including officers. However, there are besides people who become soldiers of this formation for money if it breaks out of these people there will be no use.
This formation was the eye in the head of the PiSu forming it. She was favored, the staff of the officers and officers were encouraged to supply her with a faster promotion path, financial additions. All of this was at the expense of weakening the possible of the operational troops, as PiS wanted to show in a propaganda dimension the fast effects of building this formation. To rapidly find officers for WOT they had to be picked up from operational and logistical troops. The officers passed reluctantly due to the fact that they despised the territorial recruit, and the existence of the formation itself was considered to be seasonal, considering that after the ministry had been ‘taken back’ by the PO, the WOT formation would simply be liquidated.
The PiS built the WOT’s “power” based on propaganda tricks. For example, 2 brigades were to function in Mazowsze, but then it was decided to set up a 3rd brigade, so there were no volunteers, so a clever procedure was carried out, namely any soldiers from the 2 previously existing Mazowsze brigades and a 3rd was created. It looked beautiful in the media, and in practice specified movements built a false image of the real state of the Polish army. The construction of the formation itself began first with the acquisition of people, and only then began to wonder about the infrastructure and its equipment. To this day, despite so many years since her appointment, this formation is not full equipped or decently trained.
In fact, apart from individual gunfire, small-scale-based assault rifles, anti-tank grenade launchers, and drones, the formation does not have essential equipment to let for real bonding of the opponent in the battlefield. In the plans, the formation is to be equipped with various types of drones, with hand anti-aircraft kits, or even with the haubice or drawn mortars. The formation besides did not scope the planned numerical states. At the beginning of 2025, the population of the formation was 42 1000 soldiers versus 57,5,000 planned. Despite all this, the formation of the formation itself should be considered right and necessary, and it has already proven itself during respective large actions specified as border protection or last year's flood in the south of Poland.
Voluntary Basic Professional Service
Another component affecting the army's numbers is Voluntary Basic Military Service. For the amount of PLN 6,000 paid for nearly 12 months, the majority of young people are recruited. The point is to make a military oath, thus, in the event of war, in a simple way to get thousands of additional recruits, due to the fact that erstwhile you took an oath, you were ours for the remainder of your days. During basic training, most “Provolves” are little trained than soldiers from the PRL period. There's no area for them in the units, no thought what they'd do. So they decision furniture, sometimes they sleep, and at best they check the papers of people entering the area of the unit fewer of them have a chance to work in the military after completing this circumstantial “training”.
Military “offices” are getting stronger
In the military, officers arrive rapidly. They deficiency jobs in operational troops that are not saturated with adequate military equipment that would become a place of service, so they make office jobs. And so, for example, in an office section where there were 2 captains so far, there's now a major, a lieutenant or captain, a lieutenant, and a private. These office soldiers have occasional contact with the reality of real service in the field of combat. They do not participate in the field, they shoot respective times a year in the first 2 years after the conflict in Ukraine, they were deprived of even this due to the fact that ammunition even this pistol hit Ukraine, as did Kevlar helmets. They were even taken from the officers in return by equipping them with steel peeled “peerel nuts”. Polish soldiers were besides taken with bulletproof vests and gas masks. Masks were besides taken from civilian military personnel with military mobilization allowances. This supposedly second European NATO army is not even able to equip its current composition to the basic extent, and we hear plans for a universal download. Despite the expanding number of consecutive drafts, Poland would not be able to implement specified a scale at this stage, as the WOT command is already sitting in residential containers in many places in the country.
Morale and intellectual condition of the command staff
My top concern, however, is the condition of the Polish officer corps, people who are intellectually independent, ready to openly share their critical attitude about what is happening in the armed forces. But we have a rat race, and there are inactive "backs," that is, people who become officers after they know each other, due to the fact that their father-in-law is simply a general due to the fact that his uncle is simply a colonel and he did. specified men can jump in the hierarchy by 2 degrees of officer in 1 promotion and the way from a civilian to a major takes them six years. People in the major's degree don't separate an armored transporter from a tank due to the fact that that's what happens.
It is besides interesting to see how the WP officers are so easy and rapidly doctored. As long as a civilian's doctorate is simply a fewer years, for officers it's a substance of just over a year. Many of them have completed 2 3 courses in postgraduate studies, although they have a problem to glue the conviction correctly in Polish. In worship of Marshal Piłsudski, they become mindless executives of superiors I remember erstwhile in 2016 it was decided that US troops would be stationed in Poland. Among the colonels and majors I was in contact with at the time, there was widespread joy in this fact. There was a feeling of universal relief, here the American army will service Polish soldiers in defence of borders. It was a sad feeling to observe a commanding staff satisfied with the arrival of her country's abroad army to do their job.
Actually, only General Mirosław Różanski of the full command squad stated that the stationing of US troops in Poland alternatively of providing us with real safety would only consequence in an increase in tension and escalation of the deterioration of the relation between NATO and Russia. Time showed that Gen. Rosański was right. Though he himself withdrew from this prophetic opinion by a whim erstwhile he became advisor to Simon Holownia. By the way, it's a pity for Rosański, due to the fact that whether it ruled the PO or the PiS he could stand up to politicians. It was a soldier of blood and bones genuinely afraid about the welfare of his subordinate soldiers, which I had the chance to see. He survived the clash with the PO, but the clash with the right hand of Macerewicz Bartłomiej Misiewicz was unable.
Poland lost 2 fighters over a year, the WP rocket destroyed the home in Wyryka and the anti-aircraft defence strategy was incapable to halt a twelve drones and 2 rockets (Wires, Bydgoszcz). To put it mildly, this looks weak, but the even worse conclusion of these situations is the deficiency of adequate consequence to these events of the WP Command, which does not have the courage to tell the truth, but whether it is governed by the Law and Justice and the PO allows itself to be pushed around and forced to manipulate the public.
Polish Army General Stands
On the occasion of General Rozański, a fewer sentences of reflection on the Polish generality and colonelry. What is at first glance is the expansion of general and colonelial posts in relation to the real needs of the Polish Armed Forces. all state vacation in Poland is another 8-10 fresh general promotions and hundreds of colonels. As a result, we have about a 100 active generals and most likely about a 1000 in reserve. And we have about 2,000 colonels and almost twice as many lieutenant colonels. If the full army has about 200,000 soldiers, you can see that the number of these jobs is far besides advanced for the structures of the full army.
Generals are frequently left not due to merit and ability, but due to relationships. Many become generals 1 year before retirement just to have a higher pension afterwards and get a higher severance. The intellectual condition of our generals is best demonstrated by their opinions and statements about the war in Ukraine. Generals Polko, Pacek or Skrzypczak have repeatedly compromised their analyses and forecasts of the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian front. Part of the generalization moved on to an armed confrontation with Russia, considering in this its chance for fame and distinction. Others are people with the American army. Among the higher officers there are voices that the authoritative language of communication in the Polish Army is English. Even in the time of the Warsaw Pact, no 1 came up with the Russian Army.
So we have thousands of colonels, and there will be even more, due to the fact that any of the leadership positions of the various cells so far led by civilians are now to be led by colonels. The problem is that a civilian for the state budget is at least half as costly and performs the same office duties. The HR lacks not only people who are self-thinking, but besides those who have the courage to point out the destructive direction in which our armed forces lead.
Unprofitableness and bureaucracy
The Polish army is possibly the most bureaucratic structure in the country, and, although associated with the usage of the most modern method solutions in the field of combat, it is powerfully anachronistic in the area of administration. It seems to me that if a war broke out, our army would drown in paperwork. Our military is theoretically of large importance to supervision on the appropriate management of military property or the acquisition of military weapons and equipment without corruption practices. In practice, large importance is attached to item and large "themes" pass between undetected fingers.
Invariably, uniforms, mattresses, or fuel have been lost in the military for years. More and more extended control structures are being created, which in practice, alternatively of fighting pathologies, are utilized to find hooks towards commanders who are uncomfortable for individual in the resort. A control cell, comprising 30 colonels, shall be sent preventively to control a military unit. Control lasts a month, although in fact it could be conducted in a week and in addition by forces of majors or captains. But that's not why he became a colonel, so he wouldn't go distant for a period to a unit in Mazury, where you're accommodated in a good hotel, and you can relax from your wife with your colleagues.
As a result, a cell that looks for unprofitableness is its own synonym. Only in the army a 400 km bus is sent to bring 1 poster or to send a driver with a bus to the another end of Poland to collect respective medals, as if it could not be done by courier. Only in the military are sent a single worker for respective days of bus training with a service driver. During a fewer days of training, both the worker and the driver are accommodated in the hotel, who does nothing for those fewer days, but waits to take the worker back. It's amazing that it's the only place you can't send an worker or a soldier by train or bus. There are many more scandalous examples. They all then form this celebrated budget of 5% of GDP.
Another pathological group in the military are doctors on officers' posts. Sometimes a given unit has 7 or 8 of them in stock, but the reality of the entity's terne is one, due to the fact that they stay at the time erstwhile they should be in the unit working in hospitals or providing private services. As a result, although the military pays their wages, they are not on duty. erstwhile a soldier or a civilian feels sick at work, alternatively of being able to take advice from a doctor his unit employs, he hears that the military is not a medical clinic and how badly you feel about it, then sign up with your household doctor due to the fact that doctors in the military are not from treating soldiers and military workers.
The army is simply a caste and the colonel retired is not to overexert himself
WP is simply a household business. The officer's husband gets his wife's job, then his wife's sister's and then his brother-in-law's, that's where it's normal. If you're a colonel and you're retiring, that doesn't mean you're ending your military adventure. You take 7,000 pensions and start working as a civilian in the military, most frequently as a specialist, due to the fact that in this position you can gain the most. "You work" from Monday to Thursday, in a position so that you don't gotta do anything and take a monthly pension and salary. The hit was under the regulation of the Law and Justice, a colonel lawyer who, after retiring, worked in the MON and in working hours privately provided legal services for respective military units. He made at least 20 1000 zlotys modestly. Then let's wonder how much we spend on the army and the effects are poor.
When the Law and Justice came to power in 2015, the structures of the armed forces counted on thorough orders to destruct nepotism, corruption, bureaucracy and unprofitableness, while the Law and Justice Department dealt with the negation of elements related to the tradition of the Polish Army from the PRL period. The days of Bartłomiej Misiewicz and another akin civilians who were sweeping elder officers came in the MON. erstwhile the PO, the PSL and the Left came to power, it was again imagined that fresh ones would come, that it would be a new, better quality. Meanwhile, the arrogance of MON workers is even greater in the opinion of soldiers and no of the burning needs of the military has been solved. As a result, on 15 August we have beautiful parades of "powerful Poland", and a fewer days later it lands on the Polish territories of the drone, by no 1 noticed and unstopped.
Marek Kamiński
Photo: Wikipedia
Think Poland, No. 39-40 (28.09-5.10.2025)
