Poland to establish Home Guard

Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's deputy Prime Minister and the defense minister has signed a "Conception for improving the operation of the National Armed Forces," according to which the Polish army is to be reformed within eight years, Rzeczospolita daily reported on Thursday. The project assumes an increase in the number of professional soldiers by 10,000 (currently, it stands at 100,000). What is more, the defense ministry plans to build a structure of regional forces, which may operate as a Home Guard of Poland. These troops, in line with the reform will consist of reservists and militia members assigned to military headquarters located in every voivodeship. "This would be a skeleton of the territorial defense," said general Bogusław Pacek.