Interesting article about Romanian Army in Afghanistan...

At the end of November 2004 a patrol of the 281st Battalion has discovered an ammo dump consisting of 1,000 7.92 mm, 14.5 mm and 12.7 mm rounds, 20 82 mm mortar shells and two artillery shells.

On 2 December 2004, the same battalion found another stash, which contained one 100 mm howitzer, 3 recoilless rifles, 91 100 mm mortars, two 82 mm mortars, four RPGs, two 12.7 mm MGs, nine assault rifles and ammo.

The 300th Infantry Battalion from Galati is due to replace the 281st near Kandahar this month.

Duna TV just announced that a Rumanian soldier was killed and two others were severely wounded when their AFV rolled over a mine close to Khandahar, in Afghanistan.

May he rest in peace...

Gen. Dénes

Yes, it seems it was an IED.
The soldier killed was 26.

Who?

These?; "the 26th Light Infantry "Neagoe Basarab" Battalion, nicknamed by the Americans "the Red Scorpions", after the name of a Soviet anti-SEAL special forces unit, has been stationed there. Recently, they have been rotated with the 812th Light Infantry "Carpathians' Hawks" Battalion, of the 81st Mechanized Brigade from Bistrita."

Can you elaborate? Do you mean professionals in the sense they are volunteers, not "draftees"?

What exactly is the Romanian system for military service anyway, ? My understanding was that there is a "draft", for two years of compulsory service for all males of a certain age. Is this not correct?

Who?

These?; "the 26th Light Infantry "Neagoe Basarab" Battalion, nicknamed by the Americans "the Red Scorpions", after the name of a Soviet anti-SEAL special forces unit, has been stationed there. Recently, they have been rotated with the 812th Light Infantry "Carpathians' Hawks" Battalion, of the 81st Mechanized Brigade from Bistrita."

Can you elaborate? Do you mean professionals in the sense they are volunteers, not "draftees"?

What exactly is the Romanian system for military service anyway, ? My understanding was that there is a "draft", for two years of compulsory service for all males of a certain age. Is this not correct?

The draft is officially still on, however, the period you mentioned is no longer correct. The compulsory service is down to 4-6 months of service.
The soldiers who went to Afghanistan and Irak signed special contracts for this, they were volunteers for these particular missions.

take care

The draft was one year and presently I believe it has been reduced to 8 months. Those that have graduated with a university decree have a reduced term of half that period (6 months initially and now 4 months). The service is longer in the Navy though.

There are however many hired NCOs and soldiers, who usually man the active units, not the territorial ones. All the troops serving abroad are hired soldiers, not drafted, and they volunteer to leave. It pays relatively well.

The draft was one year and presently I believe it has been reduced to 8 months. Those that have graduated with a university decree have a reduced term of half that period (6 months initially and now 4 months). The service is longer in the Navy though.

There are however many hired NCOs and soldiers, who usually man the active units, not the territorial ones. All the troops serving abroad are hired soldiers, not drafted, and they volunteer to leave. It pays relatively well.

But they are all Romanian citizens, correct? Are the draftees not paid,while the volunteers are? Also, would a draftee never be sent into a combat zone?

To me the term "hired soldiers" makes it sound like they are mercenaries.

I mean, the U.S. military is 100% voluntary, and the soldiers/sailors/airmen are paid better than formerly, and certainly it's an opportunity for many, but no one ever refers to them as "hired". It's presumed, rightly or no, that they are in "service" to their country, even though they draw pay.

Is there a distinction made in Romania? I'm curious. Do people view professional military as simply a job, or is there, as here, an assumption of a more noble calling; a willingness to make the supreme sacrifice for "duty, honor, country". Do Romanians respect their military people, in general?

Well, to be drafted in the army nowadays with a college diploma means you have to go to the minister and ask for his approval (true case).

This post has been edited by Alexandru H. on April 28, 2005 03:30 am

No.

No.

Then how do you explain the fact that in terms of popular trust, the Army is the second institution in the polls after the Romanian Orthodox Church, somewhere well above the Government, the Parliament, the Justrice system or the Police? I would say that many do respect the military. Some while ago, with the 26th was in Afghanistan, it had a website, where there pages of messages left by Romanians for the soldiers, mostly messages of appreciation.

I used the term "hired", because this is the official term: "militari angajati pe baza de contract". It may sound in English as mercenary, but it is probably because of the differences in the languages. They considered proffessionals and they proved this in the missions they took part abroad, where they seem to have been much appreciated. It also offers a career opportunity to some people that are drawn towards this kind of job, the effort and dedication it requires. Clearly the majority of the draftees lack these qualities.

Trust in what sense? The B.O.R. and the army are just Kings in the land of the blinds. The question is

and not about do they respect or trust the Army institution. And don't say that this institution it's made by it's man, most people won't make much of a diference. And those messages to the Romanian soldiers in Afganistan has nothing to do with the trust in the army.

Thats a BS answer in those polls..
Ask some guys about the military service and if they want to do it. The term could very well be reduced to 1 month and they'll still run like hell. Even the guys that did serve that term advise others to avoid it.
Also, these days, do you know what the word in the military "street" is?
The word is that that poor guy that died in Afghanistan died not because his TAB was destroyed by that IED but because he was bootlegging gasoline, and he was carrying it in the TAB.
The explosion of the IED ignited the gasoline the guys wanted to sell on the black market.
And thats what military people say.
Respect for the military? I think thats puny in Romania when it has to do with somthing else but big empty words.

The military institution have a verry ancient roots in romanian society,and,beggining with dacians,all the mens was not mens enough if dont was in the army(or dont was a fighter).The stories about how bad is to be in army,make some peoples to try to avoid to be recruted,but,the polls reveale that peoples(especially peoples who was in army) have trust in this institution,only who garantee the defence of the country.

Look what our brave soldiers are doing in Irak!
And they are getting pay for this .
From our money!


Attached Image

Sorry to disappoint you C-2, but the soldier in the photo is American according to the uniform. Also, how would an Afghan kid know the latin alphabet and the LOL symbol for messenger ":))" ? It's probablya computer edited image by some guy who thought it would be funny.

The image has been edited by me in order to remove obscene words.