Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said that the country's new approach to military officer training seeks to produce a group of "intellectually strong" leaders for an army of the type that befits a democratic country. In a 20-minute speech on 23 July before a group of officers at the newly reconstructed Defence Ministry building in Tbilisi, he promised pay rises for certain categories of servicemen and touted the success of the recently created reservist training system.

"We are creating a programme of study for officers that is very different from that of the Soviet Union. The main tenet of the Soviet Union was not to think about personalities and individuals. The main tenet was that you were to be enslaved, mechanically subdued people and the main slogan was: orders are not subject to discussion. Everything was to be done mechanically.

"You are officers in the armed forces of a democratic country. You are the people who we have specially selected from higher education institutions. In the coming months we will train 1,000 new officers who have graduated from Georgia's institutions of higher education. We want people who have a general education - many of you know foreign languages, which allows you to receive information - and who are capable of acting in a well thought-out way," he said.

President Saakashvili went on: "The first precondition you need in order to be fearless and effective is to have a high level of knowledge. The main precondition to avoid getting confused is to have a lot of information. That is why we are creating a completely new programme of study for Georgian officers. You are the army of a democratic country. That means you are a thinking army.

Georgian President continued in this vein, saying that western powers derived their military might precisely from their peoples' democratic mentality.

"Why are the armies of Israel, England and America better than other countries' armies? Because they consist of representatives of societies where there is freedom and where freedom is the highest ideal and the strongest motivating force," he said.

He continued to stress the importance of knowledge, saying that the country's military needed "intellectually strong" servicemen.

"In order for you to accomplish the tasks before you, you must be not only physically strong - which we are working on - but also intellectually strong. Each and every one of you should understand that defending the country is a science, a very high science. It is not only the result of enthusiasm. I assure you that enthusiasm must be based on knowledge, exercise and a sense of the common good," he said and went on to announce that that a number of textbooks on military strategy had been recently been translated into Georgian and would be used in the training courses.

"During the Soviet period, they translated everything for us except this. We were not supposed to learn how to climb trees because they did not want that which was the privilege of the empire to be known by the oppressed and enslaved parts of the empire. They wanted to use us as cannon fodder, but they did not want us to know how to lead. Now we will have knowledge of how to lead and how to study," he said.

He touted the success of the newly formed reservist training system, which he said was "proceeding practically without incident."

"We will soon train 5,000 reservists a month. Initially I set out a goal of training 100,000 reservists in Georgia, and I think that Georgia has the potential to amass a reservist corps of 200,000 troops," he said.

President Saakashvili announced pay rises for several categories of soldiers, including those serving in infantry reconnaissance, engineering, technical and communications units, which he said were areas that required a "high level of knowledge". Soldiers competent in a foreign language will also receive a bonus of 100-150 lari [about 60-90 dollars] per month. He also pledged that as of 1 January officers would receive an average salary of 1,000 lari [about 600 dollars] per month.

He also reiterated his administration's commitment to building a strong army and promised further support for the military.

"From the first day of my presidency I set as a goal the creation of a modern, effective, first-rate - and not second or third-rate - armed forces and to shatter all the stereotypes which our enemies - and unfortunately sometimes our friends - had about Georgians are not capable of creating an organized and effective army, Georgians are not capable of establishing an organized state. Georgia is destroying and shattering these stereotypes and razing them to the ground. We will continue to do this every day to spite our enemy," he said, also noting: "We are purchasing the best arms for you and we will sharply increase our mobilization in the future."

Press Office
of the President of Georgia