Area Handbook For Bulgaria Part 36

Other than preinduction orientation, conscripts get their basic training, weapons and skills specialization, and combat training while in the service. Noncommissioned officers may also come up from the ranks and be prepared for better positions at in-service schools, but they may also attend special schools and enter regular military units for the first time with a noncommissioned officer grade. Noncommissioned officer secondary schools were provided for in a 1971 law. The schools were to be available to acceptable applicants who had completed the eighth grade and were seventeen years of age or younger. The courses would last a minimum of three years, during which students would be considered to be on active military duty and after which graduates could continue in the service as noncommissioned officers. If an individual did not go on with a military career, he would be credited with a completed secondary school education and also with the completion of his regular required military service. Under any but exceptional circ.u.mstances, however, graduates would be obligated to serve in the armed forces for at least ten more years.

Cadet programs in several university-level higher military schools provide officers for the services. Applicants to these schools must have completed secondary school, be active members of the Komsomol, and indicate an intention that, upon graduation, they would accept appointment to serve in one of the armed services. They must also be single, in excellent physical condition, and under twenty-four years of age. Many apply during their tours of conscript service but are accepted only if they have the prerequisite educational qualifications.

Line officers for infantry or armored units and logistics officers have four-year courses. Engineer, signal, transportation, artillery, electronics, and other technical specialties are five-year courses, as are those that fit candidates for air and naval careers. The men are commissioned in a common ceremony shortly after they have graduated.

Morale and Conditions of Service

The basic ingredients of good morale are present in good measure in Bulgaria's armed forces. The vast majority of the troops believe in their overall mission, take their obligation for granted, enjoy a respected status, and receive valuable training. The country's princ.i.p.al ally, the Soviet Union, is a long-standing friend and is held in high esteem. Greece and Turkey, the countries that the men are taught to expect to fight, are traditional enemies; so also is Yugoslavia.

In addition to being obligatory, military service is nearly universal, and it is difficult to evade. Service life is extolled in the media, and no widespread criticism, either of the forces as a whole or of individuals as servicemen, is aired. Military experience provides vocational training, much of which is beneficial to the individual and to the national economy.

Special social benefits are available to the forces' personnel. If their service results in unusual hards.h.i.+ps for their dependents, the families are given extra consideration. Monthly benefit payments to wives or parents experiencing financial problems exceed those to nonmilitary families by 30 percent. Wives who remain behind get preferential treatment for prenatal or child care or while job hunting. As the men come to the end of their duty tours, they are a.s.sisted in their transition to civilian life, in their search for educational opportunities, or in job placement. If disabled in the service, a veteran gets a pension that is more liberal than usual for the same disability acquired elsewhere and continuing a.s.sistance that includes free transportation on public transport as well as medical treatment and care of such things as orthopedic apparatus.

Medicine

The medical service provides treatment and preventive medicine for military personnel and, in certain circ.u.mstances, for dependents and for persons employed by the military. Its services are also available to the public at large during individual emergencies, if they are the most immediately available, and on a larger scale during epidemics or natural disasters. Military personnel may also avail themselves of emergency facilities in nonmilitary hospitals or clinics.

Since about 1960 the medical service has been upgraded in several major respects. That year saw the formation of a higher military medical inst.i.tute, located on the site of the army's general hospital, for advanced, specialized training of physicians. In addition to providing better training for military doctors, the objective was to establish a research center for in-depth study of the special military aspects of medical science. A more pragmatic objective was to initiate long-overdue improvement in medical services for the armed forces. In its first ten years the inst.i.tute gave advanced instruction to 6,500 medical personnel and an additional specialty to some 200 medical officers.

After the formation of the higher medical inst.i.tute, the medical services were given considerably broader authority over sanitation and hygienic conditions throughout the military establishment. They determine standards to be maintained and make inspections of living quarters, food services, water supplies, bathing and laundry facilities, and training and recreational areas; they give instruction in personal and group hygiene. They also partic.i.p.ate in the planning and design of new barracks and any other buildings where troops work or train.

Appropriate to the enhanced status and authority of the medical service, its section of the ministry was upgraded and has become one of the dozen more important branches under the minister of national defense. Its chief has been a doctor, the only major staff member who has been neither a general officer of one of the armed services nor a high-ranking party official.

Military Justice

Military courts, or tribunals, are special courts but are part of the national judicial system and subject to the same codes as are the civilian courts. In the same kind of relations.h.i.+p, military crimes are a special category of crime but are listed within the overall Bulgarian criminal code. The separation of military justice from the rest of the judicial machinery is almost complete, however, although jurisdiction in a criminal situation could be in question and, in its early treatment, a case could be transferred from the jurisdiction of a military to a civil court or vice versa. Once tried before a military tribunal, the proceedings and sentence of a trial might be reviewed by a higher military court or might go to the Supreme Court, but it would be extremely rare for a case to be reviewed by a civil court. Within the Supreme Court a review would be accomplished only by a military panel of that court.

Military crimes are those committed on military installations or those that relate to the performance of military duty, to military property or personnel, to military honor, or to certain aspects of national security. Servicemen of all ranks, military reserves during their training or whenever they are under military control, personnel of the police or any of the other militarized security units, or any other persons involved in military crimes are liable to military justice. In general, sentences for military crimes are more severe than for equivalent crimes tried before civilian courts. For example, failing to carry out the order of a superior is punishable by up to two years'

deprivation of freedom, and conviction for "clearly indicating dissatisfaction with an instruction" can result in a year's confinement.

On the other hand, in many such crimes the perpetrator's fate is subject to the discretion of his commander. If the commander determines that the offense does not "substantially affect military discipline," he may administer some lesser punishment without a trial, or he may refer the case to a Komsomol or party cell in his unit and allow it to take whatever action it sees fit. In times of war or under combat conditions possible sentences are much more severe, and the death penalty may be handed down for many more crimes.

Logistics

Bulgaria's armed forces cost the country considerably less per man than do those of its allies, and the amount spent on equipment and maintenance is relatively austere. This is also indicated by the composition of its forces, in which all armored units, for example, are of less than division strength.

Nearly all heavier and more complex items of military hardware are produced in the Soviet Union, and Bulgaria receives only those items that are being replaced in the Soviet forces' inventory or that have been produced in quant.i.ties greater than needed in Soviet units. Older equipment, however, is seldom retained after it has become obsolete.

Armies engaged in combined operations must have compatible equipment, and maintaining supply channels required for indefinite maintenance of old items can become more costly than replacing them.

Each of the Warsaw Pact allies produces ammunition, small arms, some vehicles, and spare parts for a portion of its materiel that was originally produced elsewhere. Bulgaria, with its less developed industrial base, produces a relatively small amount of military equipment locally. In order to preserve items on hand, much of the training schedule is devoted to proper storage and handling of equipment. Because the standard of living in the country is low, most of the troops are familiar with few luxuries and get along with fewer nonessentials than do the forces of its more relatively affluent allies.

Ranks, Uniforms, and Decorations

Ground and air forces use the same system of ranks although, at least during peacetime, the four-star army general rank has no equivalent in the air or naval forces. Below the army general there are three general grade, three field grade, and four company grade officer ranks. In descending order the general grades are colonel general, lieutenant general, and major general; the field grades are colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major; and the company grades are captain, senior lieutenant, lieutenant, and junior lieutenant. Naval officer ranks include three admiral, four captain, and three lieutenant grades. The ground and air forces have six enlisted grades: four sergeant and two private. The naval forces have equivalent petty officer and seaman grades.

According to military spokesmen there has been a continuing program to improve uniforms since about 1958, when the forces began to replace Soviet World War II styles with locally designed and manufactured models. Most of the changes adopted since the original change-over have consisted of improvements in the materials used and increasing the number of clothing items issued to each man. Until the early 1960s, for example, the same uniform was used by several cla.s.ses of draftees. Each draftee now receives a complete new issue and receives new trousers and footwear each year.

New styles, several including changes in materials and minor changes in color, were shown and tested in 1970. Issue of the newer varieties to the forces was begun in 1972. Most changes involved tailoring details and the use of more wrinkle-resistant and lighter, tighter woven cloth.

The aim has been to improve the appearance of the men with as little as possible sacrifice in long-wearing qualities.

Officers continue to wear a service uniform consisting of a tailored blouse with patch pockets and trousers that tuck into high boots. A Sam Browne belt and sidearms are optional. The styles introduced in the early 1970s have a vent in the blouse to make it fit in a better tailored fas.h.i.+on, and they are a lighter green than their predecessors.

Ground forces have stripes and piping on caps and rank insignia that vary in color to identify their branch of service (armored forces, infantry, transport, engineer, and others). The enlisted men's uniform is similar in design but has different quality material and less ornate trim. Air forces have the same uniforms but may be identified by their blue stripes and piping. Naval personnel wear the traditional navy blues and whites.

Rank insignia on the uniforms seen most frequently consists of stars or stripes on shoulder boards. Officer ranks are identified by varying numbers of stars. The boards themselves become progressively more ornate with higher rank. Those of the company grades are relatively plain; those of the generals are highly ornate. Enlisted grades are shown by stripes. Privates have none, their shoulder boards are plain; and the number and width of the stripes increase with promotion to higher grades.

Decorations and medals are awarded profusely, and most of them are ornate and colorful. The highest ranking and most respected, however, is a simple gold star, which identifies its recipient as a Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. The Order of Georgi Dimitrov and the newer Stara Planina medal, which has been declared equal to the former in seniority, are the next most important. These three most highly cherished decorations are awarded in only one cla.s.s each. The highest of the orders that are presented in several cla.s.ses are the Order of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Madarski Konnik medal, which are equal in seniority. They are awarded in three and two cla.s.ses, respectively.

THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

Bulgaria's gross national product (GNP) is only about one-third the average of the other Warsaw Pact allies, and during the late 1960s and early 1970s Bulgaria spent a smaller proportion of its GNP on defense than did any of its allies. Although its 1973 estimated population was less than one-half the average of its allies, it maintained about five-sixths as many men in its regular forces. On the surface, therefore, it would appear that the armed forces were a less-than-average financial burden but a greater-than-average manpower burden.

The appearances may be misleading to some degree. The country has been the slowest of the pact nations to industrialize, and its standard of living has been the lowest. It is probably, therefore, less able to afford its relatively moderate defense costs. Its labor force is large enough for the level of the country's industrialization, but there is a shortage of skilled workers. The training and experience that young men receive in the armed forces broaden their familiarity with complex mechanical and electronic equipment and provide many of them with skills that are of value to the national economy. The regime also considers that the disciplinary habits and the political orientation acquired in military service are of positive social value, outweighing the time that young men are withheld from the labor force.

When extraordinary measures are required in an emergency situation--such as during the 1972 drought--the armed forces are able to provide a ma.s.s labor force and to contribute the use of a considerable amount of heavy mechanical equipment. In 1972 force units were called upon to get maximum efficiency from irrigation systems and to add to the sources of irrigation water whenever possible. Military units also do field work on public projects. They are encouraged to contribute the days before public holidays, the holidays themselves, and other time that does not interfere with training schedules.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Section I. Social

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