AROUND 33 men who kept getting their National Guard conscription postponed were not happy to hear they would be serving an additional eight months on top of the normal military service, it emerged yesterday.
“There was a lot of fuss with shouting and kicking but they have no choice, they will have to show up along with the new conscripts and serve their term,” Defence Ministry spokeswoman Aliki Stylianou told the Mail.
Army authorities reviewed on Tuesday and Wednesday a total of 85 men who in the past few years got their conscription postponed; in addition to the 33 who have to do the extra military service, army authorities told the remaining majority that they would be serving normally or be given limited duties depending on their circumstances.
A few will be summoned in six months for their cases to be reassessed.
The review is part of new measures from the Defence Ministry to tackle draft dodging.
The house passed a stricter law in February to deal with the fact that about 20 per cent of all new conscripts dodged the draft each year on psychological or disability grounds.
Those postponing or trying to avoid serving on claims of disability, injury or psychological illness may now be liable to serve a special military service which will be eight months longer than the normal service.
They will not carry guns and will be given administrative tasks.
The Ministry announced it would be reassessing all individuals who got out of the army, working its way back from 2010 until 1995 to review individually each case’s legitimacy.
Yesterday marked the first day of the new conscript intake National Guard.
Around 5,000 young men will be admitted through to Monday.
Persons who legitimately avoid the draft are still able to apply for positions in the government provided they fill in all other requirements.
The health ministry recently hired as a mental health official, a man who was discharged from the army for mental health reasons under the old legislation.
“Given that he was legally discharged from the army and he fulfilled all required criteria, we went ahead and hired him,” Mental Health Services’ Andreas Xenofontos said adding that the law did not preclude him from getting hired.
“We will see the results of the new law after Monday when all new conscripts report to their camps,” Stylianou said. Normal military service is usually 24 months.
