Prague, Jan 27 (CTK) – Active reserve troops of the Czech military will train the protection of strategic buildings and the border during an increased risk of terrorist attacks at an exercise in March and April, Ostrava Regional Military Command head Jaroslav Hrabec said yesterday.
Some 1100 members of active reserves will rotate during the exercise, he said at a conference entitled “Active Reserves of the Czech Armed Forces – Challenges and Opportunities.”
The reservists will train transfers, logistic support, decision-making processes and their abilities to move in the field, while tackling simulated emergency situations, Hrabec noted.
He added that the exercise would focus on a situation of a terrorist threat due to the radicalisation of some groups in the Czech Republic or a possible penetration of terrorists in the country with the migrant wave.
All 14 infantry companies of active reserves within the regional commands and the active reserves of the military police will take part in the exercise that will take place in the Libava training grounds, north Moravia, from March 3 until April 22. Each unit will join it for nine days.
The Czech military plans to form “another army” of active reserve troops. At present, there are some 1200 reservists, while the military would like their number to reach 5000.
Active reserves are to replace the losses of professional units in the case of an armed conflict or if they are sent to foreign missions or take leave.
However, even specialists should serve in active reserves and the military would call them up in the case of a crisis, ground forces commander Jan Gurnik said.
Participants in yesterday’s conference agreed that active reserves would become an important part of the military in an emergency situation in the Czech Republic.
Then they could protect strategic buildings, such as power plants, and guard the border in cooperation with the police. They could also be deployed to remove the consequences of natural disasters and help the integrated rescue system.
Even the Czech air force wants to form its active reserves in the future, air force staff chief Ivan Cech said.
A new law, which parliament has passed and which is to take effect in July, would improve the recruitment of active reserves.
The annual financial reward given to their members will be three times higher than now and these troops will have further advantages as well.
Another novelty is that active reserves could be sent to foreign missions in which only professional soldiers have served so far. The army is also to pay some contribution to the reservists’ employers.
Chief of Staff Josef Becvar said the military would not be able to preserve the skills required from it without active reserve troops.
He added that apart from the spring exercise, reserve troops would participate in a training in support of the integrated rescue system and in international exercises this and next years.
