The rather long discussion which perhaps previously had remained largely unnoticed in the public – since exchange of views took place mainly on the platform between political parties and military experts mostly representing the leadership of the National Armed forces, in 2022 resulted in a decision being made by the Parliament of Latvia – to restore compulsory service.
What were the main reasons for the restoration of compulsory service? To begin with, a significant driving force was consistent increase in Russia’s aggression, which was clearly manifested by Russia’s full-scale brutal attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Next, the sharp increase of Latvia’s defense capabilities required a much larger number of personnel. In addition, a significant reason was the modernization of the system of reserve soldiers, considering them as an essential aspect of combat readiness and an integral part of the comprehensive national defense system.
Obviously, there are some other secondary reasons, such as the considerable number of vacancies in the National Armed Forces for whose it has not been possible to draft enough soldiers for five-year contract. Besides, the unsatisfactory volume of recruitment in Latvia is affected by the poor demographic situation, strong competition between other state bodies – especially between the Ministry of the Interior and the National Armed Forces. Also, private sector is highly competitive offering much higher salary than the military service is even able to do, and much greater freedom and flexibility – allowing to employees achieve better work-life balance.
A broad discussion was on the cost of setting up the conscript service and the provision of human resources. There was an opinion that the new type of service could be created without providing additional funds but then, as a result, the analysis showed that significant financial and personnel resources would be needed for the conscript service to be rationally implemented, able to function optimally and not to lose society support. Thus, it was necessary drastically increase the number of junior officers and noncommission officers. So that they would not be removed from professional units for, conscript service needs. Lack of the infrastructure for this task required a reorientation of priorities in the construction plan. The increase in funding is related to the creation of new structures for the management of conscript service, the contracting of medical institutions for the selection process and the provision of social contributions. The measures mentioned above also phased the implementation of the conscript service with a set number of four-year intervals. According to the idea, Latvia plans to reach the optimal number of conscripts to 4000 in 2028. To what extent it will succeed depends on the potential recruitment volume taking into the consideration demographic impact, available resources, and society support.
In order not to raise negative associations with the previously abolished mandatory service that existed until 2007, new term – State Defense Service – was developed. Moreover, the new type of service was created from “0”. Thus, a radically new approach was achieved with minimized exceptions, for instance, health restrictions and non-acceptance of criminal records, simultaneously offering a fair and comprehensive motivational package to encourage youth to apply voluntary for the new Service. Meanwhile, a wide range of options including a variety of choices was established for the citizens who might choose one of them, as follows:
- Serving 11 months in the Regular Forces, for instance, Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Air Force, Navy etc.
- Applying for five-year’s service in the territorial units of National Guard that determine at least 28 days a year active participation in military training and exercises.
- Completing an officer’s training course during studies at a university.
As the reader of this article might guess, a great emphasis in the new type of military service is placed exactly on the voluntary principle. For instance, if a citizen applies voluntarily for the service, he receives compensation 600 EUR a month – twice as much as a conscript who will be recruited by the system and will be paid 300 EUR. However, if not enough young people have volunteered, the missing quantity shall be filled by organizing a random selection from the general population register. Male citizens (women can apply voluntarily) between the ages of 18 to 27 are subject to compulsory service. Taking into the consideration information mentioned above, the first two conscriptions have been fully based on the application of the voluntary principle. Meanwhile, the third conscription falls short of meeting the required number of soldiers on a voluntary basis, enlisting only 330 out of 480 needed. To address this, a randomized selection process was implemented, utilizing a specialized computer program to choose conscripts from the citizen register. This poses a new challenge: devising a strategy to prevent potential divisions between volunteer and non-volunteer conscripts in the future.
To determine the optimal length of the new type of service, from the perspective of National Armed Forces it was of utmost importance to balance two aspects – desire of the armed forces and desire of youth:
- Making mandatory service to young people as attractive as possible, because the desire of the armed forces is to obtain a certain number of soldiers for a certain period – as long as possible.
- The desire of young people that is to lose as little time as possible from their lives while fulfilling their mandatory duty to the country.
As a result, the duration of the service was set 11 months. This time includes basic training and specialty training that is four and a half up to five months. The rest of the time is service in the unit – in exact military specialty and participation in various collective exercises. After completing boot camp, a conscript if he has joined to the State Defense Service voluntarily, in principle, receives equivalent compensation as a professional soldier and is provided with identical conditions, daily routine, and must meet the same requirements. The only difference is the length of service – professional soldier has a five-year contract, while conscript has to serve 11 months. In addition, it must be recognized that conscripts in the units fulfil positions and perform such specialties, the value of whose is not prohibitively expensive, and which will not require investing a lot of time and financial resources in terms of renewing the personnel.
To conclude, it is important to highlight that by introducing (not renewing but creating a new type) compulsory military service in the defense system, Latvia has not changed the concept of National Defense. The structure of the National Armed Forces will not be radically changed moving from a professional armed force to a mandatory service/reserve army structure. Still, it will be based on the regular forces with the dominance of the professional component. The compulsory service will be an auxiliary part of the armed forces and by the regulation; the number will not exceed more than 30% of the regular unit’s composition. When conscript soldiers complete the 11 months service, they will be included in the reserve units, thereby providing a high-readiness reserve in the defense system.
Leonīds Kalniņš
LTG, Chief of Defence of Latvia
Latvia
