������Ƶ

WARSAW: Sweating and out of breath, young Poles throw grenades and practice evacuating the wounded at a training ground outside Warsaw.
Instead of relaxing at the beach, they have chosen to do army drills over the summer holidays.
Nearly 10,000 men and women have volunteered for the month-long, paid “Vacation with the Army” program, which the defense ministry launched to promote military service among young people as Poland beefs up its security.
The EU and NATO member — which borders Belarus, Russia and Ukraine — has been strengthening its defensive assets since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 out of fear that it could be next.
“The training includes shooting and tactics classes, field studies, and general air defense,” said lieutenant Patrycja Adamska, spokeswoman for the army’s 10th Car Regiment, one of the units involved in the program.
“The recruits have an opportunity to experience the discipline of soldier life,” she told AFP.
The participants, most of them 18 to 20 years old, spend 27 days in a unit, after which they are awarded a rank and can continue service or become part of the reserve personnel.
Michal Piekut, a master’s student in international security, was surprised by the rigour of the drills. Sporting camouflage paint and in full uniform, the 29-year-old was barely standing from the exertion.
“This is no vacation, it’s intensive military training. I thought I wouldn’t make it,” he told AFP after dragging a heavy munition chest across many meters of sandy terrain.
“Nobody fainted yet, but the day is young,” he deadpanned.
Lt. Michal Gelej from the army recruitment office said the program “constitutes a wonderful alternative to summer jobs,” as a payout of 1,400 euros awaits those who complete it.
Goran Meredith, a 19-year-old American studies student at the University of Warsaw, said the money and summer timing allowed him to participate, otherwise he “wouldn’t have time to be here.”
The ongoing war in Ukraine was another incentive.
Piekut said he was considering a future military career: “I want to become a reserve soldier, and if need be, serve my homeland.”


Just after Russia’s Ukraine invasion, Poland adopted a homeland security law that included the goal of “enlarging military personnel.”
It also updated its voluntary conscription program in 2022 with an eye toward increasing the army reserve. It drew nearly 90,000 candidates over the years 2023 and 2024.
The defense ministry launched the “Vacation with the Army” program last year, along with exercises in schools and weekend boot camps for civilians, promoted by a large-scale social media campaign.
“The Ukrainian example teaches us that the professional army gets used up in about a year” if it cannot draw on adequate reserves, said Bartosz Marczuk, a Sobieski Institute expert who co-authored a report on the idea of introducing mandatory military training in Poland.
“We are the largest country on NATO’s eastern flank, and its keystone of security,” he added.
Marczuk said that any reintroduction of mandatory army service — which Poland ended in 2009 — would need to be preceded by voluntary programs.
“That’s why all initiatives of this sort have to be supported,” he told AFP.
In March, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that by 2027, Poland will expand its voluntary military training program to accommodate 100,000 recruits per year, in order to create “an army of reservists.”
Piekut doubted whether his compatriots were up to the task.
“Most adults could not handle it. There are very high requirements, physically, psychologically, and in terms of discipline,” he said.
Meredith agreed: “We’re in our first week and 10 people have quit already, so it speaks for itself.”

BANGKOK: Military commanders from Thailand and Cambodia held talks on Tuesday, as calm return to their disputed border and displaced residents began trickling back, following the Southeast Asian neighbors announcing a truce to end five days of fighting. Thai and Cambodian leaders met in Malaysia on Monday and agreed to a ceasefire deal to halt their deadliest conflict in more than a decade that has killed at least 40 people, mostly civilians, and displaced over 300,000 in both countries. Although Thailand’s military said that there had been attacks by Cambodian troops in at least five locations early on Tuesday, violating the ceasefire that had come into effect from midnight, commanders from both sides met and held talks, a Thai army spokesman said.

This includes negotiations between the general leading Thailand’s second region army, which oversees the stretch of the frontier that has seen the heaviest fighting during the conflict, and his Cambodian counterpart, Thai Major Gen. Winthai Suvaree told reporters.

The commanders, who met at the border, agreed to maintain the ceasefire, stop any troop movement, and facilitate the return of the wounded and dead bodies, he said.

“Each side will establish a coordinating team of four to resolve any problems,” Winthai said.

In Bangkok, Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who traveled to the Malaysian capital to secure the truce deal, said he had spoken to Cambodia’s defense minister and calm had returned to border area.

“There is no escalation,” Phumtham told reporters. “Right now things are calm.”

Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Defense Ministry, said at a briefing on Tuesday that there had been no new fighting along the border.

Vehicular traffic and daily activity resumed in the Kantharalak district of Thailand’s Sisaket province on Tuesday, about 30km from the frontlines, where Thai and Cambodian troops remain amassed.

Chaiya Phumjaroen, 51, said he returned to town to reopen his shop early on Tuesday, after hearing of the ceasefire deal on the news.

“I am very happy that a ceasefire happened,” he said. “If they continue to fight, we have no opportunity to make money.” In Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, 63-year-old Ly Kim Eng sat in front of a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, waiting for directions after hearing of the ceasefire deal.

“So, if the authorities announce it is safe for all of the refugees to return home, I would immediately return,” he said.