Since 1 January 2005 the Czech Republic has fully professional armed
forces. The last conscripts left the military on 22 December 2004. The
conscript duty and civilian duty have been abolished by a Military Act
amendment passed by the House of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech
Republic on 24 September 2004 and by the Senate on 4 November 2004. As
stipulated by the current legislation, military duty will be required only
in situations of a threat to national security or state of war. In the
context of the recent extensive reform of the armed forces the proportion
of professional soldiers and conscripts had gradually changed in favour of
the former: in 2003 for the first time the professional soldiers
outnumbered conscripts serving in the armed forces. After the abolition of
the conscript duty, the reduction of personnel numbers has continued. The
target numbers are 26,200 soldiers and 8800 civilian employees in 2008. As
of 1 January 2006, the ACR had 39,084 personnel (23,092 professional
soldiers, 15,992 civilian employees). |