Poland prepares citizens for possible war: Fear of something bigger
Deblin - A tank drives through the hilly landscape on the big screen. Suddenly, enemy soldiers appear from behind a wall. Sofia Adach tightens her grip on the black assault rifle, takes aim and pulls the trigger. Red dots mark her hits on the screen.

"Don't hold your breath when shooting, just keep breathing calmly," says staff sergeant Magdalena Porowska. With her arm outstretched, she shows the shooter the angle at which she should hold the assault rifle.
The shooting exercise in the simulator is part of a free one-day military training course that Poland's military has recently started offering citizens. Soldiers are shown how to handle weapons, how to behave correctly in dangerous situations and the basics of orientation in the field. "I think you need such skills, it gives you a greater sense of security," says Sofia Adach.
The 40-year-old fitness trainer is one of the hundred men and women who have come to the Polish armed forces' training center for aviation technicians in Deblin on a cool autumn Saturday.
Here, around 140 kilometers south of Warsaw, they are completing the one-day "Train with the Army" course. The program is offered at 17 military bases across the country.
Fears are growing in Poland of an expansion of the Russian war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine. Poland, an EU and NATO member state, is massively arming itself against a threat from Moscow. It recently concluded deals worth billions with the USA and South Korea for the delivery of new tanks, howitzers and fighter planes.
The number of troops in the armed forces is to be doubled. In a country with a population of around 38 million, the military currently has 110,000 soldiers, plus 30,000 members of the WOT volunteer homeland security force. In the coming years, 250,000 professional soldiers and 50,000 homeland guards are to be added.
First aid and survival skills are also trained

"The Polish military must become stronger in numbers in order to really deter an aggressor," said Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak (53) recently. Poland has introduced voluntary basic military service - conscription was abolished many years ago. And of course the one-day training course is also intended to recruit citizens for the armed forces.
But not only that: "We want to create the conditions for as many people as possible to be trained in the use of weapons, first aid and survival skills, such as the ability to make a fire or prepare water," says Blaszczak.
In the shooting simulator in Deblin, staff sergeant Porowska encourages the participants. "I want you to shoot as much as possible!" For some, this is not so easy. "I first had to break my barrier to touching a weapon," says Malgorzata Wos (39).
She believes the training is useful to avoid panicking in an emergency situation.
The army wants to give people a sense of security

"I fear that the war in Ukraine is the start of something bigger. And I don't want to run away in an armed conflict," says Adam Krakowiak. The 28-year-old forklift truck driver is considering whether he should become a professional soldier or join the volunteer Home Guard. The training is intended to help him decide.
Outside on the training ground, Sergeant Mariusz Starosz explains how to handle the hand grenade. "Take cover immediately after throwing it, don't look where it lands!" he tells the participants.
Survival training also includes a bit of scout romance. A parachuting instructor demonstrates how to light a campfire with the back of a knife, fire steel and birch bark.
During the lunch break, the participants receive a ration of emergency rations - complete with a chemical heater that only needs to be mixed with water. After ten minutes, the food cooks in the aluminum bowl. The men are particularly enthusiastic.

"Of course, you can't train people to become soldiers in one day," says midshipman Marcin Chruscicki, who supervises the course. But in the event of a conflict, it can't hurt if as many citizens as possible know how to handle a weapon.
The whole thing is also an image campaign: "We want to give people a sense of security that the army is there."