Girls and boys arrived in Požega for voluntary training
This year’s first group consists of 120 male and female conscripts
Today, this year’s first group of young women and men arrived in Požega for voluntary military training. A total of 120 female and male conscripts signed up for training in the Basic Military Training Battalion of the Centre for Infantry and Armour Training. In the next eight weeks, these eleven young women and 109 young men will undergo training to acquire basic military skills.
Voluntary military training is the first step to a professional military career, i.e. voluntary service is a prerequisite for the career of a soldier in the Croatian Armed Forces.
From 2008, 9,519 men and 1,603 women have successfully completed voluntary military training.
“My father, uncle and grandfather were part of the Croatian Armed Forces, and that is why I also decided for voluntary military training, because of my desire to be a member of the Armed Forces,” conscript Toni Petrak said, who comes from Slatina to undergo voluntary military training.
Conscripts come from all over Croatia, from Dubrovnik-Neretva County, through Dalmatia and the islands, Istria, Croatian Littoral, Zagreb, central and north-western Croatia to Osijek-Baranja County and the City of Vukovar, and two conscripts come from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I decided to undergo voluntary military training because I wanted a new challenge,” conscript Matija Ratković from Slavonski Brod points out, while a woman conscript Josip Smolčić comes from Rokovci for voluntary military training, and as she says, the main motive for signup is love for the Homeland.
After stationing to units, the conscripts borrowed their equipment, signed the contracts on voluntary military training and had lunch in a military restaurant for the first time.
They have two weeks of introduction to the military environment ahead of them, after which they will take a solemn oath, followed by the most important part of the five-week training, during which they will master basic military skills. The training is conducted at the 123rd Croatian Army Brigade barracks in Požega and the Novo Selo and Glavica military training grounds.
Upon successful completion of voluntary military training, conscripts can sign up for Specialist Military Training and officially become professional soldiers. Those who do not choose a military career become members of the reserve.
