Poland’s updated framework sets out who will be called to the military qualification and who can be exempt, according to a regulation issued by the defense minister on March 25, 2024. The process is conducted by county military commissions to assign a fitness category for service.
Those required to appear in 2025 are primarily men who turn 19 during the calendar year. The obligation also covers people who failed to appear in previous years or whose qualification was not carried out on time. The purpose of the screening is to determine a fitness category.
The system uses five categories:
- A – fit for military service in peacetime and wartime.
- B – temporarily unfit; must report again after a set period.
- C – unfit for active service in peacetime but can be called up in wartime.
- D – unfit for military service in peacetime (with limited exceptions in territorial service).
- E – permanently and completely unfit in peacetime, mobilization or wartime.
The regulation’s annex specifies diseases, disorders and defects that exclude service. People with color-vision disorders (color blindness) may now be called up and are no longer automatically excluded. Transgender individuals will not be called, their cases are grounds for a finding of unfitness.
Examples cited include:
- Nasal deformities (congenital or acquired): disfiguring or obstructive cases qualify for D; severe obstruction or deformity for E.
- Lip deformities (congenital or acquired) that significantly disfigure or hinder speech and eating lead to D.
- Heart disease: constrictive pericarditis, or a condition requiring surgery for this disease, qualifies for E.
- Gastrointestinal disease: recurrent, complicated gastric or duodenal ulcers lead to D.
Not everyone will be called. People with serious illnesses, mental disorders, or congenital or acquired defects that prevent service will be exempt.
The detailed list in the defense minister’s regulation forms the basis for medical board decisions.
(jh)
Source: RMF24, MON