ARMED FORCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC A symbol of democracy and state sovereignty 1993–2012 MILITARY OATH OF ALLEGIANCE OF THE SERVICEMEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC I, a soldier of the Armed Forces, realising my civic and patriotic duties, solemnly pledge allegiance to the Czech Republic. I will be a brave and disciplined soldier and I will comply with the provisions of military regulations. I will conscientiously learn to operate military equipment and weapons, and prepare for defence of the Czech Republic and defend it against external aggression. For defence of the homeland, I am ready to risk my life. So I swear! © Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic – MoD PDD, 2013 ISBN 978-80-7278-601-5 VÁCLAV HAVEL FOR THE ARMED FORCES Letter by the President of the Czech Republic for the Vojenské rozhledy periodical issued 16 December 1993 The Armed Forces of the Czech Republic has entered the second year of its existence. The global situa- tion constantly proves that militaries still have to be built, not only for their servicemembers to perform honours for important visits, but particularly because states have reasons to feel threatened. It is only se- veral hundred kilometres from here where images of war atrocities, conveyed by everyday TV shorts, freeze our desire for living life without weapons. It has been a couple of weeks from when a politician after elec- tions in Russia called for changing international borders in Europe. We will have no choice but to carry on seeking for what I believe has been commenced well: to jointly strive for a good repute of our armed forces, its prestige, and to have esteem and confi dence in it. Over the past four years, our armed forces have undergone crucial changes. The military has adopted and respected a new military doctrine that has extricated it, following the abolishment of the Warsaw Treaty, from the infl uence of then bipolar conception of the world. The General Staff developed a new defence stra- tegy, prepared and elaborated defensive contingency plans, the high command has successfully stood up to commitments under international treaties, which radically reduced the number of both people and wea- pons. With a huge effort by all, especially career soldiers, military installations concentrated predominantly in west and south-west Bohemia were successfully relocated across the whole national territory. Instead of then military districts, three more or less autonomous territorial commands were formed, which in turn facilitated the division of the former Czechoslovak army in an incredibly short timespan and absolutely seamlessly. The establishment of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic marked a new phase of the armed forc- es’ development, which has rejuvenated senior command circles, shortened the conscription service and strived for a qualifi ed structural reform coupled with another reduction of personnel strength. Obvious success of the armed forces transformational effort has in my view been still overlooked and we hear, even from some politicians, about uselessness of the military or doubts about its reliability. The armed forces still appear too expensive to many and some call for decreasing the defence budget. Many still wrongly perceive the armed forces primarily or only as a force of career soldiers although the decisive power is with those who have served their civic duty in the military, have trained with arms and learned to defend their homeland, their family, their property, own life and the life of their closest friends, should the need arise. Especially young men, who have spent a year of their life in the armed forces, have born a major share of the responsibi lity for the opinion that civilian public develops about the military. Only when their conscience of civic responsibility and the commanders’ professional responsibility combine, the atmosphere within the military will change to the better and the confi dence in the armed forces will grow in turn. A qualifi ed atti- tude by political leaders, who should act in a manner conducive to the civic responsibility for preparation to defend the Republic, must play a central role in this respect. Criticism the armed forces has been subject to in recent years was appropriate where it supported possibly fastest and farthest-reaching transformation of a military once incorporated into an aggressive pact, a non-sovereign satellite military, into an armed forces of a democratic independent state. The time is up though to say we have confi dence in our armed forces, that our military has managed to handle extremely challenging tasks, proven that its commanders accepted the offered allegiance to democracy, and also attained some internationally recognised achievements. The armed forces once stood at the birth of Czechoslovakia, soldiers of this military force, dissolved by politicians, fought and distinguished themselves in all World War II fronts, and more recently participated in defending our civilisation in the Persian Gulf and today provide assistance to inhabitants of Yugoslavia. The Armed Forces of the Czech Republic has a tradition to follow on, and the citizens of this country have, as I am sure, already enough reasons to change their attitude to the armed forces, and may have confi dence in their military, and those serving with the military have an opportunity and duty to continue acting the way that we could be proud of the military, proud of them. VR No. 1/1994, pp 3–4 3 ARMED FORCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC: 20 YEARS Introduction Introduction While middle and older generation may still have some passing memories of that time, the younger generation already did not manage to capture the dynamic of changes and only began to follow national de- fence issues in the course of the covered period of the independent Czech Republic (CR) or have not realised to date that national defence represents one of the essential obligations the state has towards its citizens. All citizens are invited to get familiarity with the history over the past twenty years of the Armed Forces of the in- dependent Czech Republic, but it will be probably viewed differently by civilians, employees and personnel of the Ministry of Defence, those who served their conscription duty, active-duty servicepeople and ex-military professionals. The publication is also offered to law enforcement professionals, fi refi ghters, medical rescu- ers and people taking interest in the past and present of the military. Students and scholars may represent another audience to possibly use the present publication for their studies. It should also serve as a source of reference for research and publication activities. The Czech Republic came into being in specifi c historical conditions of the disintegrating bipolar world after 1989. That characteristic however does not capture everything the times then embraced. It does not depict the complex of conditions that made it possible for then Czechoslovak and later Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (CSFR) to split at December 31, 1992. The international name of Velvet Revolution under- scored the peaceful way the state then divided and outlined developments in the present state territory of the Czech Republic from 1 January 1993. The very term of Velvet Revolution embraces respect to the military part of the society, as the armed forces supported the complex changes the metamorphosis of the politi- cal system entailed and later also the division of the state without abuse of military force. The inception of independent Czech Republic had an international and intra-state aspect and primarily impacted the sphere of demography, economy, governance, environment, social and technological development. Throughout the past twenty years, the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic (ACR) has developed as a part of the society, as a power element of the state, as its military. It was not incepted at 1 January 1993 by building a military from scratch, as was the case following 28 October 1918 when the independent state of Czechoslovakia was established. It was backed by the new Constitution of the Czech Republic and laws adopted from the CSFR. Contrarily to law enforcement, the military in the CSFR was only a federal service and only had federal steering bodies. Division of common state therefore involved splitting the military. It was the last large-scale peace operation of the CSFR armed forces and, at the same time, the fi rst peace operation of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic and Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic without the involvement of other countries’ armed forces. The operation was closely followed from international perspective and evalu- ated positively upon completion. By the way of introduction, the difference should be highlighted between national security policy, which comprises the defence policy, and real development of the security system, which includes the armed forces. Those terms will be used in the text and it is correct to point out the difference between the idea – notional model of the armed forces – as it appears in the political discourse, and the actual shape of practical defence policy. Security policy is the expression of political opinions. Legislation is endorsed by 200 Deputies of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and 81 Senators of the Senate of the Czech Republic. From 2004, the total of twenty-four Members of the European Parliament represented the Czech Republic in the European Parliament and twenty-two MEPs since 2009. Those are politicians involved in mak- ing decisions on drafting and passing Acts, strategies, concepts, policies, directives, regulations, plans and other documents shaping national defence. 5 Politically approved documents affect the contents of the security system’s activities and appropriations allocated for specifi c ministries and governmental departments in individual years. Those policies for- mulate the visions of how the complex social system should work in the international environment through vehicles adopted on national level in the state’s legal system, which builds on the constitution and a real political environment.