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Most Slovaks think voluntary military training important: poll

Xinhua, December 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Most Slovaks are in favor of the continuity of the current voluntary military training, an opinion poll conducted by Slovak Defense Ministry found.

"As many as 72.4 percent of the respondents find it important for this form of voluntary military training to continue in the future," confirmed Danka Capakova, spokesperson with the minister, on Monday.

And 56.3 percent of the respondents think that every young and healthy man should undergo voluntary military training.

But the survey on a sample of 1,247 respondents finds that only 18.3 percent of the respondents aged between 18 and 35 say they are interested in joining the project, while 76.8 percent are disinterested and 5 percent undecided.

The voluntary military training project is one of the Slovak Defense Ministry's priorities.

To make it more attractive, the ministry has reportedly proposed several changes to the project, including shortening the training course from 12 weeks to 11, increasing the financial bonus to participants from 375 to 575 euro (391 to 600 U.S. dollars), and easier access to military ranks for people who have undergone the training. Endit