Today, I received another confirmation of Poland's place in the world. They are more prehistoric then I thought. I mean seriously, who sends a request to show up to qualify for the army when they haven't been in the country for almost twenty years?
My brother was 5 when he left Poland but he remained registered under my grandparents address (zameldowanie). Everyone has to be registered somewhere in order to be able to do pretty much anything. If you're not zameldowany then you can't get a job, get a national id card and without these things, well you're stuck. However zameldowanie is not an easy process, but that's another story.
Until recently, I think this year, all men over the age of 18 who were not studying at university, had to spend 9 months in the army. This was compulsory. As of 2009, the army has become an option, a job, if one is interested.
When my brother turned 18, my grandparents received letters requesting his presence at the council to qualify for army service. They were informed that he has been living overseas. A few weeks later another notice arrived. My grandparents sent them a formal letter advising them that my brother is living overseas. That quietened them down a little bit.
A year later, the officials came to my grandparents house to personally pick up my brother and take him with them to spend 9 months in the army. To their disappointment, they left empty handed, maybe they forgot to read the letter that advised them of my brothers whereabouts. I'm surprised they didn't send a plane over to Australia to pick him up.
I understand some people are patriotic and will do anything to get into the army. However this should be a choice. Luckily from now on it will be, however most men still have to be in the Reserves. Why? It's not like they are going to learn anything other then how to consume alcohol in excess because there is nothing to do.
Yesterday another registered letter came, addressed to my brother. Another request for him to stand in front of the qualifying commission for the army. He hasn't been in Poland since 93/94. I phoned the people responsible and was pleasantly advised that they don't believe me and need more documents to verify the fact.
Shouldn't they have a database to have all the information? What is the point of identity cards if they can't have all our information stored on some database? Wouldn't this make the entire process easier and reduce the amount of bureaucracy Poles have to go through?
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