The Greek Ministry of Defense is developing a plan according to which the compulsory military service of conscripts will be used to develop additional professional skills – for their own benefit, as well as for the benefit of the armed forces and the state apparatus as a whole.
A plan aimed at improving the qualifications of recruits and their skills is being developed in cooperation with a technical advisor to the Ministry of Digital Policy. Its ultimate goal is, as far as possible, to match the qualifications and talents of incoming recruits with the needs of the army.
The plan provides for a large database of information provided by recruits. Guided by this, the army authorities will be able to provide training for conscripts in their areas of expertise, so that by the end of their term in the army (now it is 1 year) they will acquire additional experience and certified qualifications. Moreover, conscripts from specific faculties of universities will be appointed to key positions.
A typical example of the plan is IT graduates who can be placed in the Cyber Defense Directorate of the Greek National Defense General Staff (GEETHA). Likewise, law graduates will be appointed to the legal departments of the minister and deputy defense ministers, as well as to the departments in charge of military contracts. Qualified engineers, meanwhile, will work on the production or maintenance of weapons systems.
In this way, the internship for conscripts will be part of an internship in subjects that can later become a field of professional participation, while at the same time the military itself will be able to make the best use of the conscripts.
The project, which is supposed to be implemented in two stages, has already been approved by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
This idea was born in the minds of the leadership of the Greek armed forces, modeled on the Israel Defense Forces, where a similar system has been operating for many years.
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