Lithuanian reserve troops who have completed their compulsory military service say they do not receive calls for training and updating their skills. The Defence Ministry hopes for the problem to be addressed in line with the expansion of the country’s military facilities.
Pijus completed his compulsory military service in 2017 and acquired mortar skills. The active reserve soldier says he knew at the end of the nine-month service that he would need to update his skills but has not yet received a call for training.
“It’s been 7 years. I knew that I would need to update those skills, but nobody has contacted me until now,” he says.
According to Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chair of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, active reserve troops must know how to react in an emergency.
“The military reserve, especially the active reserve, who are fresh out of service, is extremely important. Updating a skill and integrating someone with the basics is much easier than creating a new soldier,” he said.
Pijus says he would wait for orders in the event of an attack on Lithuania, but he lacks clear communication with the Armed Forces.
“There should definitely be more communication with reservists, whether it is the active reserve or the standby reserve,” he said.
Reserve soldiers will receive more attention and calls for training as Lithuania is expanding its military training grounds, according to Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
“This year, a significant number of reserve soldiers will be called up and we will try to test inviting more of them into our brigades. And the posts will be filled to the required level,” he assured.
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The Lithuanian Defence Chief Valdemaras Rupšys, however, says that only a few reserve troops do not receive calls for training.
“Maybe some people have not been informed, or the data has been lost, or the profile data has changed, etc. But practically all those who served after the restoration of compulsory military service in 2015 are included in the active ready reserve,” he said.
Currently, there are about 30,000 soldiers in the active reserve and more than 100,000 in the ready reserve in Lithuania.
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