Croatian teenagers running into hundreds have reported for compulsory military service, for the maiden time since their country scrapped the requirement in 2008.
Training will hold at barracks in three locations around Croatia, with recruits expected to report to the facility nearest to their homes.
There, they will get their kit and dormitory assignments. For the next two months, they will have to submit to military discipline.
“They have now been torn from the civilian environment,” said Tihomir Kundid, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Croatia.
In case that sounded rather brutal, the general was quick to reassure any anxious parents that their offspring would be handled with care.
“We will acclimatise them step by step, so that they do not experience too much stress,” he added.
Many among the recruits will also be relieved to hear that there are “no special restrictions” on mobile phones, beyond a ban on using them during training.
Around 800 people are in the first batch of conscripts. Notably, more than half of them did not wait for their call-up papers, but volunteered for service. One in ten are women, who are under no obligation to serve.
Croatian officials have also been keen to point out that just 10 people have so far registered as conscientious objectors. They will have to spend four months in civilian service instead – receiving less than half the €1,100 (£953; $1,273) monthly allowance granted to military recruits.
General Kundid promises a “very dynamic, very interesting” programme for the conscripts. Training will cover everything from traditional skills through to “basic drone control and drone protection skills” and cyberwarfare techniques and countermeasures.
The uncomfortable proximity of the war in Ukraine prompted Croatia’s move to reinstate compulsory military service. Only Hungary separates Croatia from the conflict.
“The situation in Croatia and all around our neighbourhood was stable. Right now, it’s completely different,” Croatia’s Defence Minister, Ivan Anusic, tells the BBC.
“For four years now, we’ve been looking at not just the Russian aggression in Ukraine, but the proxies of Russia all around Europe doing their jobs.”
