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Army rations or preserved foods are used to be normally prepared in field kitchen. For standardization reasons, the forces of NATO nations have agreed on several principles, embedded in STANAG 2937 that is the basic document for nutrition of soldiers, compulsory for all NATO member states. Up to now, as a field food support, the Army of the Czech Republic has had at its disposal only the so-called "combat ration food", offered in two variants. At Jan Bata University Zlín, experts finished the development of pre-prepared meals, i.e. "meals ready to eat" intended to be prepared in field conditions. Basic rations meet all requirements prescribed by the Czech Field Manual Prov-1-1. Emergency rations meet 60 % of required energy value. They are intended to help in crisis situations, in time of lack of food. For handling, packing and traffic grounds, food rations are planned for 25 persons.

This article is primarily engaged in the analysis of existing situation in the area of securing outfit components and in the assessment of the level of support provided to women and men working in the Czech Army. It evaluates the current state of supplying the soldiers with all necessary outfits in compliance with the current legislation and the way of its actual implementation. It analyses the current legislation and the possibilities of distribution of uniforms to their end users. The assessment primarily addresses the fulfilment of objectives for which the distribution system of uniforms was established.

It is an information study about sociological research completed among Czech servicemen, former members of military missions abroad, under the aegis of the rector of the University of Defence. The research goal consisted in finding causal relationship between missions and breakup rates. Among others it was determined that for breakups were predispositions even before partners went to missions abroad. A total of 3 % stated they wanted to escape from family problems. Partnership after returning home broke up in 15.6 % of questioned veterans. Research should provide cornerstone data for a proposal of concrete measures for reducing divorces and partings. The stratified sample consists of 348 respondents from the ACR who took part at least in one mission abroad and were married, or lived in long-term partnership. Data collection lasted from July to October 2008.

At that time, the base for plural societies in Eastern Europe was founded. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined NATO defence alliance. Serious global threats of economic, military, ecology, social, ethnic, religious, criminal characters were lasting. The important question of proliferation of mass destruction weapons was raised. The analyses of security situations in Europe and the World respectively proved that armed conflicts were mostly internal, in a form of civic wars, but demographically endangering bordering countries. Those threats were only discussed, namely nobody fully realized the threat of terrorism. Defence budgets were reduced, all people wanted to profit from the so-called peace dividends. Czech army was loyal to the state; it was not misused in inner political conflicts, which was regarded as something normal by the majority of Czech public. But there were many problems left, especially the role and engagement of the ACR in the following century.

The basic question of Army transformation was the fact that it was not constituted upon the statehood principle that gives precedence to politicking individual parties. The ultimate goal of this transformation was to build forces loyal to democratic republic, but during the last ten years the top personnel at the Ministry of Defence changed several times, leaving the Army with restricted means, without precise laid down tasks and goals. Uncontrolled interventions into forces structure, reducing numbers of military personnel, lead to balance on the verge of collapse. The basic goal to develop Czech national security and defence policies did not fell short. Army was transforming itself, initially under the management of former generals and later under civilian control, especially after 1991. The division of the armed forces after the split-up of the state at the turn of 1992 went very smoothly, with good discipline. The transformation has been influenced above all by the newly adopted legislation, accession to NATO and to the European Union, participation in missions abroad and professionalization of the Czech armed forces. The whole process has been facilitated by the acceptance and implementation of a broader concept of security.

To fulfil Czech obligation as an EU Battle Group Framework Nation according to the regulating document EU BG Training and Certification, the Czech Army is to certify that the CZE/SVK Battle Group EU meet the standards and criteria stated in Standards and Criteria for EU BG. It is recommended that the CZE/SVK Battle Group EU certification process should be analogous with NATO Response Force (NRF) certification procedure and practical methods. Further it is suggested that the CZE/SVK Battle Group EU certification procedure is divided into several evaluation procedures: preparation planning evaluation, war-fighting evaluation, and technical evaluation. Each procedure will be developed by specialized teams with representatives in the sub-working group to ensure that the different procedures harmonize. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of EU Military Structure or the Czech Ministry of Defence. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources. The written sources are listed in the matrix above.

The basic task of the post-1989 period was to formulate a security policy and a strategy ensuing from it. The strategy had to be based on a synthesis of the international policy concept, defence concept and internal security concept to ensure that defence would not be seen solely as the task of the army and the Ministry of Defence, but of the whole state and society-of every citizen. In this article his author evaluates some aspects of the armed forces transformation in process of adaptation. He assesses these changes with regard to approved strategic and conceptual documents that significantly determined this gradual transformation process. He identifies both same of its successes as well as failures. The study does not have a clearly analytical and evaluative character; rather it is a combination of factual information drawn from official sources, country's practical security policy as they appeared in contemporary Czech press, and opinions of the author.

Under the auspices of Defence University Brno, for the third time, the social researchers executed the investigation of opinions and attitudes of Czech citizens towards the Army of the Czech Republic. It is a continual, systematic monitoring of long-run attitudes, perspectives, and preferences of Czech population, their stability or variability, preferences and priorities. It was measured by the sample survey (quota sampling). A total of 1,050 adult respondents (with a representative sample of 1,005 respondents) were polled by 62 interviewers. The first place among Army tasks took the help of the forces in time of natural disasters and ecology catastrophes (96.4 %); the second came the defence of Czech territory (85,2 %); and the third fight against terrorism (82,7 %). As less important is regarded the deployment of the Czech army abroad (55,4 %). All gathered data are presented on several graphs and schemes.

The Czech Republic became involved in ISAF in 2002, among others we sent there both field hospital and field surgical team; later meteorological group, traffic control group with EOD team began to serve at the Kabul International Airport. In 2004, the 601st Special Force Group was engaged in Enduring Freedom operation, Czech soldiers served in German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), positive role was played by Czech Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team. Another successful mission was establishing PRT Logar, supporting social, economical development in this province. New common features of PRT, helicopter OMLT, EUPOL mission, partly SOG is the concentration on building Afghan capacities, namely ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) and public administration. Together with their deliberate support, it has multiplying effect, as assistance and training bring more effects than mere fulfilling standard military tasks, guarding e.g. Dutch base.

The author discusses the issues surrounding the construction of modern logistic support for the Czech Army as it transforms from a conscript to an all professional force of agile, light forces, with high reliability and low support requirements. The basic philosophy is to create comprehensive system that would offer complex service for a commander in the field of materiel, technology and medical services. The logistics reform must be supported by enhancing communication systems (Information Logistics System) and by seeking the ways of rationale savings, to reach the highest level of compatibility with logistics systems of other NATO nations. "Time Based Competition" and "Time Compression" must be accepted at all levels of logistics system both in peace and field conditions. In the future, the security problems will be managed more by civilian means than by hard force. The goals will be political, economical and cultural. Those changing threats will ask logistic support to be more flexible, mobile, integrated, compact and precise.

The author discusses the issues surrounding the construction of modern logistic support for the Czech Army as it transforms from a conscript to an all professional force of agile, light forces, with high reliability and low support requirements. The basic philosophy is to create comprehensive system that would offer complex service for a commander in the field of materiel, technology and medical services. The logistics reform must be supported by enhancing communication systems (Information Logistics System) and by seeking the ways of rationale savings, to reach the highest level of compatibility with logistics systems of other NATO nations. "Time Based Competition" and "Time Compression" must be accepted at all levels of logistics system both in peace and field conditions. In the future, the security problems will be managed more by civilian means than by hard force. The goals will be political, economical and cultural. Those changing threats will ask logistic support to be more flexible, mobile, integrated, compact and precise.

The overall trend set by NATO forming small, mobile, modern and highly capable units, prepared for combat deployment whenever and anywhere - determines fundamental changes both in military materiel, arms, technologies, but also those in structures of command and control, in the field of preparation and training soldiers. Small units, company, platoon, section are to be prepared for matching the task in the whole spectrum of operational and combat activities, so that they could immediately conduct warfare after being deployed. Supported by a wide range of Allied Publication, Joint Force HQ and Doctrine Committee, Training and Doctrine Directorate, prepared together a pack of tactical publications introducing principles to support above mentioned principles. At the end there is a list of individual chapters dealing with standard principles which will guide actions of company, platoon, and section.

From the point of history, at present, there is a turn in the deployment of the Czech army. The turning point lies in philosophy change concerning security and defence of our country, as well as in army build-up by itself. In the past, our armed forces used to be semi-professional army, i.e. the core of forces was formed by professional soldiers (officers, NCOs), supplemented by conscripts. In time of peace, all males were prepared and trained during their compulsory military service, after that they were trained as compulsory reserves. In war they could be immediately deployed in war organization. This deployment was planned well ahead, so was its logistical support. Upon examples the USA and Germany the author explains weak points of present organization, which-according to him-constitute a danger for wartime deployment of the ACR. The problem is in questions of mobilization, as volunteer soldiers represent only 0.6 per cent of respective population.

The ACR is going to take part in expeditionary operations abroad, so we must be prepared to supply and sustain such forces. Problems with the provision of the bakery products in the military operation and mission include diet; economical, technological, safety; and psychosocial aspects. The ground forces are to be effective. Now we are developing premixes that meet the conditions of nutritional content of bakery products and the indigenous products with the protective function. The new utilized technology is based on preparing dough with improvers. Cost analysis of producing bread and pastry in operation was carried out with a surprising outcome: the costs of our own production are approximately 4-6 times lower than the costs of products from the local or other producers or participating armies (which is contrary to present-day official policy buying from outside suppliers).

Generally speaking, simulations help our soldiers to hone their skills, rehearse their missions. Such simulations are done at the Centre of Simulation and Training Technologies. It is divided into two simulation resorts that have been working for several years. It is therefore high time to summarize their practical experiences and analyse the results reached. This is also the theme of scholarly task conducted by staff members, Faculty of Economy and Management, Defence University Brno. The article presents users' opinions how introduced simulation technologies influence the process of preparations of military professionals. The data were collected by means of questionnaires in which the users expressed their own experiences with the deployment of simulation technologies in both simulation resorts. At the end the author proposes further directions of their advancements.

One of most important tasks of the Army of the Czech Republic is the preparation for country defence, be prepared to defend the republic against attacks from outside, with the use of Allied defence system. The core of manning in time of danger or war is recruitment of all people coming under compulsory conscription and those with the duty of extra service. Even though the compulsory military service (national service) was abolished in 2004 and the ACR became fully professionalized, Czech population is obliged to conscription/draft. All men/women over the age of 18 till 60 could be conscripted. The difference is that this legal obligation is realized only after the government has proclaimed the state of danger or declares war. This selection, namely the activities of recruiting boards, must be prepared well ahead, in time of peace, in cooperation with municipal authorities, state and regional administration. The author also deals with ?extra service?, which might come into existence in case we are short of conscripts.

The Slovak author Štefan Volner wrote a book called The Wars of the 21st Century (Zvolen 2007). After the break-up of common Czechoslovak state we promised each other that the relations between Czechs and Slovaks will not change, but after fifteen years we see that we are really departed, when speaking about Slovak home policy, about Slovak security questions, its army. Štefan Volner who often publishes in the review Vojenské rozhledy helps to cover this gap and thus our military public can follow his scholarly works dealing with security and defence. In reviewed book he enumerates the causes of 21st century wars and analyses four basic paradigms: civilizational; Toffler's third wave; realistic approach; and finally thermodynamics, dealing with non-linear causes of war. Asymmetric wars came into existence as the roots of wars are asymmetric. It is not difficult to win the war, but more difficult is to guarantee post-war reconstruction.

This contribution written by two leading Czech scholars in the field of military nutrition/food deals with the quality of energetic and nutrition of food rations and allowances in the Army of the Czech Republic. The food quality is set by a prescribed index of rational nutrition, consisting of energetic values of used foodstuff and the contents of key nutrients (proteins, fats, saccharides, minerals, and vitamins). Czech defence department sets monetary values and costs of sustenance rations, continuously adapted to the growth of retail prices of food and an average structure of consumption of individual food categories for a person per day. Besides the modification of food supplements, the authors propose to lower energy value of food rations and prefer their biological significance, with regard to contents of fatty acids.

The necessary predisposition of successful meeting assigned tasks of every military contingent sent abroad lies in a high cooperation of its elements, hidden performance of all mission members. The purpose of this article is to introduce nearly invisible activities of geographic and hydro meteorological specialists of the ACR, who prepared and printed geographical maps of Logar province. It is the very first set of maps created by the method of rapid symbolization of GIS data (Geographic Information System), based upon standard Topographic Map TLM50. Vocational preparedness of military geographers is high. Technological means, advanced technology they use in Logar, are an indispensable prerequisite for successful fulfilment of their mission with honours. In fact, the Czech contingent consists of nearly 200 members, formed by soldiers of 102nd reconnaissance battalion Prostějov, 7th mech brigade Hranice, 13th arty brigade Jince, 15th rescue engineers brigade Bechyně, 103rd Centre CIMIC/PSYOPS Lipník, 22nd Air Base Náměšť and other members of Czech armed forces.

At present, we are going through army transformation, represented among others by lowering military expenditures. One of many questions accompanying this process is a purposeful and functional spending money for military purchases. The authoress, the former teacher at Defence University Brno, explains her method of multicriteria decisionmaking during shaping the algorithmic program eliminating non-optimal behaviour, suitable for all, military and state, officials, who are in contact with external providers (suppliers). Introduced method is transparent one and could be used namely for small public orders, explicitly during concluding contracts without legally fixed terms. The proposed method is demonstrated upon a concrete example of realized contract.

ACR Logistics: the 2nd Phase of Reform by Prof. Ing. Petr Hajna, CSc. In its opening part, the article enumerates a short summary of tasks that were met in 2007, in the period of the first phase of ACR reform. At the same time the author marks out the tasks for its second phase in 2008. Logistics involves obtaining, maintaining, and transporting military personnel, supplies, and equipment. Now, we lay emphasis on the preparation of a new logistics concept in frame of outsourcing system (concentrated on optimalization of the employment of civilian companies for appointed goods and services); development and reconstruction of Maintaining Material Base Štěpánov (depends on allocated financial sources); purchases of T-810 vehicles; unifying control activities in the field of material economy and the founding of Office for Economy Management, subordinated to Logistics Department of Defence Ministry.

The main objective of the ACR is the most effective and best defence of the country, with the use of principles of collective defence. But the military activities are accompanied by damages, wastes in living environment. The classification of those effects is being done by the method called Hazard and Impact Index that enables to set probable damages in advance and to adopt preventive measures to prevent them. The process starts with evaluating objects that might be endanger, materials, vehicles, activities, energy, together with impact on environment. Impact groups are divided roughly into two groups: natural surrounding, and socio-cultural surrounding. Some are expected, other unexpected, frequently they are mixed. Most of military damages are unintended, accidental. The article is accompanied by the tables introducing figures of Hazard and Impact Index.

The paper deals with present state of military transportation and theoretical solutions of transportation problem. Author cites some existing tasks in the branch of military transportation and transportation in the field of supplies of technical material, foodstuff and groceries. The article is accompanied by two graphs and several tables with examples of variants military transportation. This field of study is planned for both Bc, MA, and Ph.D. levels at Defence University Brno.

The proposals of systems approach are sometimes met with a negative acceptance. While solving difficult problems, army members exploit mere practical approaches and they proved to be successful. For that reason the author offers a short glimpse into systems thinking, as necessary starting point for pinpointing the cause of current difficulties. The system is any collection of component elements that work together to perform a task. In economic science, system is used in a variety of contexts. Military cost-effective system can be an essential programme that manage Planning Programming and Budgeting System, flexibly reacting to emerging military challenges resulting from new budget rules (based upon NATO doctrines). One of possible causes of disproportionate and undesirable reactions are wrongly set systems rules, e.g. in market systems manifested by the so-called risks factors. In the forces, the same position ought to be held by unified systems rules, taking into account individual economic subsystems (billing systems, spending elements, etc.), harmonizing them in terms of general independent economic principles.

The end of the Cold War was the most important factor determinating political and security realities in the world. Consequent development has gradually led to the significant reengagement of the former Warsaw Pact member states and other military alliances, especially into all form of peace operations. The Czech Republic is following the path common for the other countries in Euroatlantic region, being motivated by common struggle for enlargement this area of stability, security, democracy and peaceful resolution of crises. Hand in hand, with growing experiences from peace operations, the Czech Republic reflects specificities of national security and military strategies, as well as the level of declared military ambitions. Principal changes the Czech forces undergoing now are aiming at fulfilment basic principles of the Security Strategy of the Czech Republic. Participation of the Czech Republic in peace operations and operations outside the republic is becoming the most predominant form of deployment of our armed forces. Therefore, peace operations studies are more pressing today than ever before in the past.

The article deals with duties of a sniper and a military observer, sharp shooting at long distances, movement at areas in which operations are being carried out. Snipers are trained marksmen who are specialized in sniping the enemy. They are usually sited away form the main force, so that they can concentrate on shooting at selected targets instead of being drawn into general firefight. They are also less likely to be affected when the main force comes under artillery fire. The modern sniper is not alone, he is usually employed in team of two. The author also describes rifles and other weapons and equipments snipers are armed. The article is supplemented by graphs and tablets.

The Czech Republic is developing professional, highly mobile forces, with up-to-date arms, weapons, capable to take part in wide scope of Alliance or other multinational operations, even abroad, outside European territory. But this capacity depends on defence budget, on the percentage from our GDP allocated for military. From the part of the ACR, it will depend on effective spending, usefulness of used resources.

Contemporary military psychology tries to augment psychic resistance to various forms of stress arising during carrying out the tasks of military profession. Generally speaking, there is both quantitative aspect to labour (military profession), i.e. amount, effort and time, and a qualitative one, i.e. intelligence and skill. The availability of particular types of labour can influence the location of their activities. From the point of military professionals, the soldier is exposed to three factors: sensorial, mental and emotional loads. Modern military psychology defines basis schemes and methods for psychological preparation of servicemen, it uses psychological experiments that lately enable to predict behaviour of military personnel and serve as a guideline to realize manpower's potential in the most effective ways. Proper preparedness and training help to prolong high soldiers' deployment even in high demanding surroundings.

Soldiers are trained for combat situations. But peace missions are not tied with the fight. In some measure, they remind more civil police actions: patrolling, duties at sentry points. But still they are activities done by servicemen; those who retire are called "military veterans". Peacekeepers are exposed to high level of stress situations. People who experience a high level of stress for a long time may become irritable, socially withdrawn, and emotionally unstable. Some people under intense and prolonged stress may start to suffer from extreme anxiety, depression, or other severe emotional problems. All psychological research can be divided into two groups: first dealing with actual stress symptoms, the second one dealing with inner structure of individual stress. Discussed model was formed according the pattern of American airborne units deployed in the Sinai Peninsula. Dimensions of psychological stress in peacekeeping operations are formed above all by "boredom", the real threats are in fact at the end of risk scale. More stress reactions come after the mission ends. Such drafted model can be used also in the Army of the Czech Republic, or in international missions of the Police Force of the Czech Republic ...244

This work deals with the selection of candidates for Czech armed forces, with particular emphasis on their aptitude for professional military service in the ACR. Their age is also one of the distinct features influencing the result of selection procedures. The goal of this work is to assess the results of psychological tests of selected group of candidates (aged between 20-29 years and over 40) and their relation to age. This work entails theoretical as well as a practical concept in the form of quantitative survey. The theoretical part acquaints with the basic theoretical facts and specifications pertaining to military service. There is a detailed description of the selection process of suitability of the candidates for military service, especially psychological compatibility, differentiation of the stages of maturity and characterization of the maturity level in each. The practical part serves to introduce the observational survey. It analyses results of the psychological tests and presents the ascertained correlation between age and selected psychological variables.

The Active Reserve is part of the Reserves of the ACR and is formed according to provisions of the Czech Code of Law No. 585/2004, 220/1999 and regulations enumerated in this article. In 2005 the term "active reserve" was legally established. The numbers of soldiers was stabilized, in 2007, between 1087 to 1092 soldiers. Manning is the most successful in armour company (main battle tanks), where the numbers are met nearly by 100 per cent. The same is true about Recce Comp or MP units. There are differences among individual regions (Regional Military Commands) and military occupations: some units have zero increase in numbers. The author recommends concentrating more on younger age groups. Older age-groups should be used for more specialized activities, occupations, and proposes to analyze behaviour of those soldiers who finished active or reserve services, in case they would be call up under a state of emergency, as it might be very helpful for further development of the Active Reserve.