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From the EL.E.S.M.E website and the columns of the magazine published by the Institute, on numerous occasions we have raised the issues that are wrong in the field of the country's Armed Forces. We have done this with care and respect for the field in which we served faithfully, with honor, without political affiliations and guided only by our patriotism.
Unfortunately, however, it is now a fact that the political powers at times, disregarding the high mission of the Armed Forces, used the space for enrichment, selfish vote-hunting and serving their political obligations, thus eroding the spirit and morale of their personnel, politicizing many of their cadres, resulting in the demonization of monolithic principles, values ​​and ethics, and the prevalence of meritocracy and factionalism.
(Note: The military-political intertwining characterizes two categories of officers. The first is that which consists of officers with low performance in knowledge, effort and character, whose selfishness and ambition unfortunately lead them to the political vestibules, thus becoming the camarilla with all that this entails. The second is that which consists of capable executives, whose ambition for advancement or maintaining their position makes them the prey of political power. Despite the fact that all of them are few in number, the damage they cause is great).

These phenomena, over the last 20 to 25 years, have taken the form of an endemic phenomenon, strongly affecting internal cohesion in the sensitive area of ​​the Armed Forces, to which if we add the unilateral disarmament of Greece that has been implemented since 2004 and which in recent years has covered the minimum necessary credits for the maintenance and support of the forces, along with the scarcity due to the absurd and criminal reduction of the term of office brought about by the two political parties in power that have governed the country since the transition to democracy until today, then even the most ignorant person understands where we are today.
In my personal opinion, the Armed Forces today are at their worst level since 1950, and it is mainly the responsibility of the political leadership and to a certain extent of the military leadership, which did not show the former that the limits of political control that it (the political leadership) must exercise in the field of the Armed Forces are defined in the Constitution and the Laws that govern the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, and which it itself must respect and not act in excess of. All the more so when it (the political leadership), due to "complex" syndromes or ideologies (fascist or leftist or both), demonstrates aversion to the field and especially the cadres of the Armed Forces.
Today, these conditions have brought about a complete reversal of the balance of power in the region to the detriment of Greece, at a time when the sovereign rights of our homeland, extending to its Exclusive Economic Zones, must be secured for the benefit of the Greek people and the nation, and when more than ever, the country's foreign policy must be based on the defensive strength and adequacy of the Armed Forces, so that the deterrence that the latter must exude is evident and clear.
These policies against the Armed Forces have unfortunately become particularly intense since 2004, with the main characteristic being the universal disrespect towards the personnel of the Armed Forces, and especially the officers, through the actions and actions of the respective political leadership. The main characteristics are as follows:
– In the summer of 2004, at the proposal of the then Minister of National Defense and his disastrous environment for the Armed Forces (Secretaries and Pharisees), the participation of the General Staff of the Hellenic National Defense Council in the KYSEA with a vote was removed by law, a situation that was maintained by law 3883/2010, which was proposed by the Constitutionalist former Minister of Defense.
– The personnel of the Armed Forces, and especially its officers, are called by the successor of the Constitutional Minister “Uniformed Democratic Citizens”, with intensity and persistence (see discussion in the subcommittees and plenary session of the Parliament on law 3883/2010). As for “Democratic Citizens”, according to the writer, this is a redundancy that shows the intellectual “clichés” of a fanatical supporter of a group or party that nullifies the real meaning of the word, while the word “Uniformed” is a derogatory characterization (let’s not forget that doormen, hotel bellhops, OSE stationmasters, customs officers, and even carnival masquerades are also uniformed. Does anyone call them uniformed?).
– Based on the sayings of a "great" politician, the personnel of the Armed Forces are counterproductive.
– The usher, the Director of a political party, aspired to power and determined the leadership of the Armed Forces (not just the highest) based on his personal opinions and the "information" he gathered from various "sources", while the Ministers, in order to preserve their position, submitted to this outrageous situation.
– A minister did not engage in his work at all, assigning to a municipal employee the management of his office and coordination with the Chiefs of General Staff and in most cases did not assume the responsibility of signing the official files that were forwarded to him, allowing the aforementioned municipal employee to act instead and write in pencil on the files "Mr. Minister has taken note".
This is the Minister who, despite his brilliant inaction, reserved at the end of his term a painful, criminal action for the Armed Forces and their defense adequacy. Namely, the further reduction of the term by 3 months, with the consequence that the shortage affecting the manning levels and the operational readiness of Formations and Units will increase, while due to the short term of office, no trained reserves will be produced.
– The successor of the Constitutional Minister of Defense, in order to implement his intentions (family or personal or political), in violation of the law that he himself, along with his predecessor, proposed to Parliament and which is currently a law of the state and with the aim of ensuring maximum political control over the Armed Forces, to level the Commands of Formations, Units, Sub-Units, by his order allowed the direct communication of all personnel with him (via e-mail or telephone) bypassing his natural hierarchy, consciously creating a problem of discipline and credibility within the sensitive national space of the Armed Forces.
– The above in relation to the unacceptable action of Mr. Beglitis, secretly and in violation of the law, to replace the entire Military Leadership on November 1, 2011, while his government was heading for a vote of confidence (and despite the independence of members of the parliamentary group of the ruling party who called its survival into question) are simply mistakes. And this is because, as it turned out, this action was intended to support the propaganda of Greek “officials” about an imminent coup by the Greek Armed Forces, due to which the government proposed the famous referendum.
All political forces slandered the armament needs of the Armed Forces in order to cover the sinful contracts that the political authorities signed to enrich themselves, showing the defense sector as responsible for the excessive debt. However, according to official data published in 2010, it appears that the country's GDP that year was 230 billion euros, the public debt 328 billion euros, while total defense spending from 1996 to 2010 did not exceed an average of 2,4% of GDP per year, with total armament spending-purchases amounting to 23 billion euros. euros, i.e. 7,2% of the public debt in 2010. If defense equipment is brutally blamed for 7,2% of the public debt, what should politicians and their miserable fund-bearers say about 92,8% of it?
Such respect is shown towards the Armed Forces and their officers, those who daily violate the Constitution and the Laws of the Greek State, having led the country to a total bankruptcy.
(Bankruptcy of values, principles, institutions, ethics, social cohesion, education, patriotism and finally economic).
– The lack of respect for the cadres of the Armed Forces has led the clearly identified Minister above to turn with malice and hatred towards retired officers, with disparaging behavior (which one could say is a little short of insulting), while his monumental and historical phrase “I will cut the umbilical cord between retired and active officers” only causes laughter and shows to what extent of stupidity fanaticism and political arrogance leads a person. At the same time, however, the insistence on converting the official Associations of Retired Officers from public legal entities to private legal entities shows stupid ignorance of the problems that will arise from the creation of numerous organizations of retired officers as private legal entities by political parties, with what this entails:
– Special mention should be made of Law 3883/2010, which was introduced to Parliament by the Venizelos-Beglitis duo (Minister and Deputy Minister of National Defense) in September 2010 and which transforms the Armed Forces into a problematic public utility. The law is entitled “Service development of Armed Forces officers, issues of command of the Armed Forces, conscription and related provisions, where:
* From the title of the Law (and in the text of the law), the word "officers" has been replaced with the word "staff" with the aim of leveling the ranks of officers and officerizing all non-commissioned officers who are not graduates of the Permanent Non-Commissioned Officer Schools, such as the National Military Academy and the National Military Academy, who will be made permanent.
* The Law does not ensure the value of grades and allows their continued trivialization as:
– It does not end the uncritical awarding of points.
– It does not end the unethical, reprehensible and catalytic return of deserters to service during peacetime, and the conduct of a review of the merits of the case after appeals to delete negative information and subsequent positive re-examination and retroactive promotion.
– The transfer system becomes complex, time-consuming, bureaucratic and inefficient, while the system of extraordinary or regular crises acquires the same characteristics.
– The disciplinary control of Armed Forces personnel is adapted to the unfair and ineffective corresponding system of the Public Administration.
– While the institution of the High Readiness Reserves (EFYES) of 2005 is being abolished and which did not work, the new institution of the Special Armed Forces Reserves with a three-year obligation is being introduced, which has not been implemented for more than a year since its implementation. The non-implementation of this institution combined with the freeze on the recruitment of EPOP, due to the country's well-known budgetary problems, in parallel with the nine-month term, has created a huge deficit of strength in relation to the established ceiling, which affects the manning of the Branches, Formations and Units, their operational readiness and combat capability, while it is certain that it does not produce trained reserves.
– The unused camps are handed over without compensation to various bodies (Universities, Local Authorities, Foundations) at the expense of the National Defense Force and the Military Police/National Police. (Already the Camps of Corinth, Mr. Beglitis' electoral district, Chalkida, Kavala and Thessaloniki are made available to the Local Government without compensation at the expense of the Greek Armed Forces and the National Economy, as they could be utilized for this purpose).
– A free shot is being given to the most important constructive step taken in the last 30 years in the Armed Forces, Interbranch Organization, due to the amendments made by this law to the corresponding 2292/95 (on the operation of the Ministry of National Defense), while the projected vertical command structure that gives the General Staff of the Hellenic National Defense General Command the full command of the Armed Forces is false since each Chief of General Staff maintains the full command of the Branch under his command, thus creating a diarchy in each Branch (General Staff of the Hellenic National Defense General Command and Branch General Command).
While the defense adequacy of each country is part of the hard core of state power along with foreign policy, so as to support its National Strategy, and this is how the "expansive" Mr. Venizelos dealt with it, at least verbally, it seems that the demands for fiscal restraint of the state imposed by the Troika will be largely ensured by the Armed Forces.
Already in the last two years the operational budget of the Armed Forces has been reduced by 50% and their development program has been zeroed. Now, further savings are being attempted at the expense of the Armed Forces through the abolition of Unit Formations and the reduction of the ceiling of the main weapons systems. It is a fact that through the National Defense Planning, the revision of the force structure and their medium-term program is foreseen every three years (according to Law 3889/2010 of Mr. Venizelos, who made the medium-term of five years three years).
The initiation of this planning by the competent institutions of the Armed Forces Branches begins with the issuance of guidelines issued by the Minister of National Defense to the Chief of General Staff and the Chiefs of Branches. These guidelines are based on the National Defense Policy, the National Military Strategy, the Military Situation Assessment, and human and financial resources.
At the beginning of last October, the then Minister of National Defense, Mr. Beglitis (fortunately, he is a former member of the Ministry of National Defense), instead of issuing guidelines for the drafting of a new force structure, issued an order imposing this structure from above (with the abolition of Unit Formations, reduction of weapons systems). This action was anti-institutional, it was not based on the 2005 National Defense Strategy, since after seven years no new one has been approved, and it was based on proposals from the General Staff and economic "factors" who are attempting, through the Armed Forces, to reduce state spending, ignoring their dissolution (because that was coming).
The non-acceptance of these positions by the Chiefs of the General Staffs of the Branches and the convening of these Supreme Councils for the submission of relevant proposals by the competent bodies is what angered the Minister and led him in an unspeakable way to demobilize the entire Military Leadership (not for the reason put forward by the wretched government officials regarding an imminent coup, which we mentioned above), and to choose new ones, not, we want to believe, because they are convenient with the views and ideologies of the departed Minister (although the information and personal knowledge about some are negative, which in time and based on their attitude and behavior we will expose, and this because it is unforgivable for a Major Formation Commander who was called upon by his natural leadership to submit proposals regarding the anti-institutional structure of his Branch by Mr. Beglitis, to answer "no comment" because he was coordinated with the aforementioned former Minister who rewarded him on merit).
What we have mentioned above is the bare minimum of what is happening, while the real situation cannot be fully exposed for favorable reasons.
However, the restoration of the existing problems must begin immediately and without delay. This restoration is not difficult to achieve, as long as there is political will from responsible politicians who will chart a new course. This is absolutely necessary since in the last ten (10) years, each new year has been worse than the previous one for the Armed Forces, not only because of the general economic situation of the country but also because vote-buying, political factionalism, the degradation of institutions and the value of the ranks of the Armed Forces, meritocracy, the deliberate creation of an image of unreliability at the expense of officers, the games about tenure which crucially affect the operational readiness of the Armed Forces and the level of reserve required, have severely shaken the morale of the personnel and the operational readiness and effectiveness of the Armed Forces. Without exaggeration, a more general effort to re-establish the Armed Forces must begin with steady steps. Personally
I believe that at the very least, it is immediately required in this situation to do the following:
– The allocation of the necessary funds for maintenance-support and training, as well as the utilization of all existing operational material.
– The drafting of a new National Defense Policy (NDP) based on geopolitical rearrangements, risks or threats against the country in its immediate and wider environment, with a medium-term perspective, without political obsessions, verbalizations or understatements, so that the following emerge effortlessly:
* The National Strategic Goals and National Objectives, in order to ensure national interests.
* The mission and tasks of the Armed Forces as well as the directions for their organization, structure and development. (A prerequisite for the PEA is the drafting of the Military Situation Assessment (MSA) based on real data and the real operational capabilities of potential adversaries, without theoretical political approaches with discounts in the assessment of potential risks such as, for example, Mr. Venizelos' theory that the hot episode is a point and that we respond to challenges with STRATEGIC COOLNESS.
– New National Military Strategy (NNMS) based on:
* In the PEA and the ETHSS
* In the SAK
* The available financial and human resources. (The Force Structure of each branch is drawn up by its competent bodies. The proposals of the Branches are approved by the SAGE and after the consent of the Minister of National Defense, the Force Structure is introduced to the KYSEA for final approval).
– Revision of the Law on “Hierarchy and Development of Officers of the Armed Forces” in order to stop the dangerous “DECO-POISITION” of the Armed Forces brought about by Law 3883/2010 of Messrs. Venizelos and Beglitis, in accordance with our observations above. The aim is to create credibility and implement meritocracy.
– Revision of Law 2292/95, as amended by the legal monstrosity of Messrs. Venizelos and Beglitis (Law 3883/2010) so that:
* To restore and strengthen inter-sectoral cooperation.
* To form a simple and clear vertical management structure, based on pure logic and simple strategic terminology and not on the legal soliloquies of a "constitutionalist".
* New Force Structure for each Sector, based on
factors we mentioned above (PEA, ETHSS, SAK available resources), so that
This will result in Armed Forces with a simple and flexible organization, operational capability and effectiveness, capable of responding to the modern operational field and covering the mission given by the National Defense Strategy.
– Increase in service time to 15 months in the Army and 18 months in the Navy and Air Force.
– The protection and strengthening of the morale of the Armed Forces.
– The creation in everyone (political-military and citizens) of belief and knowledge that:
* The National Strategy is based on two pillars: foreign policy and defense policy.
* The strength of a nation is its economic and military power.
* The Armed Forces are not the spoils of the political elite, but by constitution they exist and operate in favor of the people and the nation.
* Faith in the mission and the maintenance of military virtues by all members of the Armed Forces are absolutely essential.

PS
– It is striking the magnitude of the stupidity and the bottomless depth of the immodesty possessed by certain politicians, who, while damaging the Armed Forces, roam the various radio or television media presenting themselves either as saviors of the Armed Forces or as victims of their “establishment”. Of course, they do this on the safe side because they are supported by intertwined circles, but also because in our bankrupt and spiritually bankrupt homeland, figures such as Aristophanes, Psathas, Tsiforos and others are absent to take care of them.
– I believe that the completely unacceptable from all sides and isolated incident that occurred in the Trade Union Congress on 17-11-2011 and which shows disciplinary problems, and very serious ones at that, should not be an alibi for government officials who, in order to justify the improbable proposal for a referendum in the period 31 October - 1 November 2011, raised the risk of a coup. I hope that those who support them in various ways will not lead them into repeating such a slide.