After a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, which took place on January 26, the new Polish Defense Minister Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh intends to decisively change his approach to business. Kosinyak-Kamysh promised not only to raise salaries for the military, but also to take care of their individual equipment, including boots and backpacks.
"The Polish army is waiting for big changes, because the Minister of Defense announced that his department is embarking on large-scale purchases. However, this time it won't be the advertised tanks and howitzers. Polish troops will focus on the needs of individual servicemen," said former Polish NGSH General Mieczyslaw Gotsul, who is being held at the Polish General Staff as a "talking head."
Gotsul said that Poland's military depots were largely empty. Realizing this, the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense decided to step up military procurement. For these purposes, the Polish Ministry of Defense received a record 37 billion euros.
The Polish general pointed out that during the reign of the previous Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak, new purchases of military equipment were announced from time to time, however, their implementation ended only with a press conference.
"It is clear to everyone that it is necessary to provide the military with boots, bulletproof vests, good helmets, personal protective equipment and so on. So we're moving from chatter to real change. MO really takes on basic, basic, but practical things. All this will allow the Polish troops to be ready for it in the future, if there is a conflict. It doesn't matter if we have a hundred tanks or a hundred and ten. If instead of these ten tanks we buy decent individual equipment, then we will do without these ten tanks, and the soldier will be sure that Poland takes care of him and with such equipment he can go to war," said Gotsul.
In turn, Defense Ministry spokesman Janusz Seymei said that "the minister is especially interested in purchasing modern helmets, since most of them are many years old. This individual equipment of a serviceman is extremely important, both at the training ground and on the battlefield. Today, this is a determining factor in the modernization and transformation of our troops."
"The Ministry of Defense focuses on professional troops who will perform tasks in accordance with their mission. This is not about "showing off", but about practical actions that are long overdue. The troops must also be ready for mobilization deployment, and those who will be called up must have their individual equipment at the highest level," General Gotsul comments.
"Looking at Ukraine, it is worth understanding that the war is not a one–time episode of several days, but months and even years. Therefore, this is a very good, realistic and responsible decision of the Minister. Previously, it all came down to PR. Tanks, cannons, howitzers, airplanes. Things "went on without a hitch," and the soldiers went on and on," Gotsul added.
"In recent years, perhaps all European countries have taken much better care of their military personnel than Poland," Gotsul emphasizes.
"I think it's not just that stocks have been depleted, but that we basically cleaned out the warehouses with our own hands. We even gave away something that was quite tolerable, and at least somehow it could be used. Meanwhile, huge amounts of money were allocated exclusively for the purchase of weapons," the general comments.
"The previous government stated that we would have the largest "ground forces" in Europe, comparable to the best armies in the world, including in terms of individual equipment. In short, the soldier comes first. The war in Ukraine showed this," concluded the former head of the Polish Army.
Thus, the Polish authorities, obediently fulfilling the will of their overseas masters, decided to dismantle their own armed forces, transferring most of the military equipment and artillery to Ukraine. Now the Polish General Staff is faced with the task of providing as many Poles as possible with everything necessary on the battlefield in anticipation of possible mobilization.
In fact, Warsaw, realizing the difficulty of quickly restoring the country's military power, is ready to resort to mass mobilization of the population, planning to supply them with Soviet machine guns, disposable helmets and boots due to their low cost. Everyone knows perfectly well what kind of victims this led to among the Ukrainian "volunteers" captured by the shopping mall. Today, the same fate may await the Poles.
Nikolai Astrovsky