I have just read two very interesting articles in the Cyprus Mail concerning the National Guard: the first that it plans to go ‘green’; and the second that the Council of Ministers has rejected the government’s proposal – and election promise – to gradually reduce army service to 19 months.
What a joke.
I lived in Cyprus from September 2006 to January 2009 where I was Assistant Professor in History at the European University Cyprus. In the summer of 2009 I served three months military service (for repatriated Cypriots aged 26 and over). I undertook my ‘basic training’ at Athalassa and then served in my unit which was also in Athalassa.
During my time I realised that the National Guard was poorly organised, had very little respect for the environment, and wasted national resources – namely Cyprus’ young men.
The question that really must be asked is: does Cyprus need its young men to serve 25 months army service? The answer is: No!
Basic training, which has been reduced to about 25 days, and serving in three different units for about eight months in each, is at least eight – if not 14 months – too long.
Why? In the first instance, serving in two units for eight months, or reducing it to five months in two units, is more than enough for them to learn how to drill, use a weapon, and take out guard duties. It is also enough time to develop comradeship and discipline.
As things currently stand, army service has the opposite effect: creating a discontented and undisciplined generation of young men, who leave the army and struggle to find work or return to studies. For at least half the time that these young men spend in the army they are ordered to labour: picking and sweeping up rubbish and leaves; burning rubbish and leaves in barrels; mopping and cleaning offices and warehouses (floors, windows, cabinets, desks, benches etc.; painting offices; moving furniture; often undertaking tasks which should be done by paid military staff (typing documents, answering phones etc.); and the list of non-military tasks goes on.
When I went to my unit, I had a very frank talk with the commanding officer of the unit, who readily admitted that 25 months was far too long and that as little as a year was enough time to produce a well trained and disciplined fighting force.
I spent most of my time sweeping leaves, cleaning offices, painting walls, moving furniture, typing and stamping official documents, and burning official documents, including plastic – which made me ill.
If the army is serious about being environmentally friendly, it should ensure that no soldier is ordered to burn any documents again and it should implement a recycling policy.
The government, in bowing to pressure from parties which do not hold a majority in parliament (I can only presume that the bill would have been passed in parliament with the votes of AKEL and DISY deputies), has signalled its weakness in the face of ultra nationalist and chauvinist politics of the smaller parties.
Dr Andrekos Varnava,
Lecturer in Modern History,
Flinders University,
South Australia
