Defense Ministry reserve service
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, March 27
Georgia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) plans to introduce an active military reserve service from 2018.
The MoD presented the reserve service concept bill to the relevant parliamentary committee on Thursday.
“The Defense Ministry is intensively working on the elaboration of the military reserve concept. All structural units are involved in the process… we have already introduced the project to military experts,” Deputy Defense Minister Nukri Gelashvili said.
The service will include three components: armed forces reserve, territorial reserve and specialists’ reserve.
The new concept of military reserve service reads that the sergeants and corporals' category, who have completed at least one contract and expressed a desire to serve in active reserve service, will be enlisted in the armed forces reserve.
The active reserve service concept is fully based on voluntary participation. Georgian citizens from 18 to 55 years, if they meet special requirements, will undergo 45-day training each year as part of the subdivision.
The enlisted servicemen will be able to serve under a 5-year contract and afterwards continue work in the territorial defense forces or complete the active reserve service and be enlisted in the military reserve forces.
At first there will be only 1500 reservists in the armed forces reserve while there will be 10,000 reservists in it. All the reserve servicemen will receive salaries.
Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Defense Ministry Shalva Javakhidze believes that the new system of the military reserve service will work effectively, and improve management and quality control.
“45 days will be enough to train such a category as the armed forces Reserve and territorial reserve. They will undergo a special program prepared for reservists” he said.
In case the reserve service concept bill is approved by Parliament, the first pilot recruitment programme will be launched in 2018.
