30 service members to begin service in the armed forces

Today, 13 February, nearly 30 service members who have successfully completed the selection process conducted by the Recruitment and Selection Centre will begin service in the National Armed Forces. This year, up to 710 service members are planned to be admitted to professional service, and 14 basic military training courses have been scheduled for their training.
The new service members will begin their service by acquiring the basic skills of the soldier’s profession at the Infantry School in Alūksne. This year, during the second basic military training course, they will acquire basic skills at the individual training level, studying subjects such as weapons, marksmanship, communications and drill, as well as field combat skills, topography, navigation, psychology, legislation, physical training and medicine, including advanced first-aid training. In collective training, which will begin after the taking of the soldier’s oath, they will primarily acquire field combat skills at squad level.

Members of the armed forces—officers, instructors and soldiers—perform their direct duties in more than 35 functional areas (branches), such as infantry, artillery, air defence, combat engineering, vehicles and combat equipment, medical support, communications and information systems, and in nearly 170 specialities. By offering such a broad range of fields of employment and specialities, the armed forces provide an opportunity to pursue a military career both to those who have obtained only basic education and to those who have obtained secondary or higher education, or who have learned a trade required by the armed forces at vocational education institutions. 
The soldier’s profession, which is also the starting point of a military career, is learned at the Infantry School in Alūksne or in the Mechanised Infantry Brigade of the Land Forces in Ādaži. To become a soldier, a candidate must be a Latvian citizen who has obtained at least basic education and is between 18 and 40 years of age. After acquiring basic skills, military service will continue in the selected unit, where the service member will acquire specialist skills and continue collective training.

The armed forces offer the opportunity to choose service in one of the units of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade of the Land Forces, the Navy, the Air Force, the National Guard, as well as the Headquarters Battalion and specialised units of the armed forces, where occupational skills acquired in civilian life will be useful. For service in specialist positions and specialised units, the armed forces particularly invite candidates with first-cycle higher education in information technology, first- or second-cycle higher education in telecommunications, secondary technical education in motor transport, drivers, and candidates with experience in vehicle repair.
The armed forces invite Latvian citizens living abroad, as well as those living in Latvia, to apply for service. Citizens whose home region is Latgale are especially encouraged to return—at the armed forces base established in Lūznava, the 36th Combat Support Battalion of the National Guard is being formed, which will also be equipped with recently acquired self-propelled howitzers. Soldiers who previously retired to the reserve are also invited to return, provided that the maximum age set for their rank still allows them to conclude a professional service contract. Returning to service has become advantageous: for each year of service after returning to active service, the service pension will be increased by two per cent. 
By choosing a military career, service members gain stability, competitive remuneration, currently starting at EUR 850 after tax, which will increase by a further EUR 75 before tax from August 2019, as well as extensive social guarantees, including state-funded healthcare and a guaranteed service pension that may amount to as much as 80% of the remuneration received, career advancement, free training in a speciality, foreign languages and other areas required for service, teamwork during exercises in Latvia and abroad, and in international operation areas. Service members’ children have the right to be enrolled in pre-school educational institutions out of turn.
The path to a military career lasting 20 years or more begins with applying for professional service. This can be done not only at the Recruitment and Selection Centre in Riga, but also at the armed forces unit nearest to one’s place of residence, including a National Guard unit. Applications may also be submitted electronically by completing the application form in the “Become a Soldier” section of the armed forces website www.mil.lv , where information is also available on the basic requirements for military service, vacancies, application locations, selection stages, and answers to frequently asked questions.

After receiving the application form, the centre will check the candidate’s criminal record and, if the Criminal Records Register contains no information about a conviction that would prevent the candidate from being admitted to service, will contact the candidate to agree on a time to begin the selection process.  The selection process includes medical and physical fitness examinations, as well as psychodiagnostic tests. Several times a month, the Recruitment and Selection Centre offers candidates the opportunity to complete the selection process over two days. On the first day, candidates undergo a medical examination; on the second, they complete a physical fitness examination and psychodiagnostic tests. Candidates undergoing selection are provided with free accommodation in military barracks in Riga, as well as free meals during the two-day selection process. This method of conducting the selection process is also suitable for candidates who live and work abroad but have nevertheless chosen to begin a military career in Latvia, as candidates can agree on the exact selection dates even several months in advance. Candidates who successfully complete the selection process can also arrange in good time when to begin the basic military training course. The course takes place at least once a month, helping to reduce the waiting time before beginning a military career.
The National Defence Concept approved by the Saeima on 16 June 2016 stipulates that, in peacetime, the armed forces maintain 17,500 militarily trained service members, including 6,500 professional service members, 8,000 National Guard members and 3,000 reserve service members.