Ministry of Defense to Review Army Retired Personnel Professional Development

CHISINAU, June 14, 2012 — "The Ministry of Defense will begin a detailed review of the activity of military chairs and will submit a set of proposals on the educational process adjusting it to the requirements of the Army retired personnel professional development, Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta stated during a work meeting with the Heads of military chairs.

Vitalie Marinuta specified that, over the past few years, the National Army had gone through the reform of a few important areas. Many changes were made, beginning from the distinctive signs to the new marching sample. All these changes are not enough followed in the methodological guidelines of the teaching staff, that keeps training students according to old and inefficient models. The Minister of Defense asked the heads of chairs to adjust their educational means to the new requirements.

In his turn, Col. Gheorghe Popa (Ret.), President of the Association of Heads of Military Chairs of the Republic of Moldova, said the Minister’s of Defense initiative to review the educational process of the chairs is a need and this issue has been included in the daily agenda of the institution he runs. Gheorghe Popa added the reform will be achieved through the contribution and support of the specialists of the National Army which is in charge of the professional development of the Army retired personnel.

There are currently 12 military chairs in the Republic of Moldova. These chairs train students based on two stages of three month-length each. At the first stage, the graduates are given the rank of “retired sergeant” (E4), and the second stage — students get the rank of “retired lieutenant”. Beginning 2002, when the first military chair opened, and till present day, over 44 thousand students graduated from the military training course. In the first half of the current year, about 3500 students completed the above studies.