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In Czechoslovakia, the "labour camps" came into existence under the Act 247 of October 25, 1948. They were camps for those who had not committed any crime, but ought to have been isolated from other civilian public. The sentences: "... the said person has no positive attitude to current regime" or "shows no interest in joining the Communist Party" constituted the reasons for 10 to 24 months of imprisonment. "Offenders" were not sent to labour camps by courts, but only under the prescription issued by "prescription committee", at the level of local and regional "national authorities". A total of 23,000 people went through those camps, as a cheap labour force, taken from among "class enemies". The special position among those camps had military camp of hard labour Mírov, designated for the former commissioned and warrant officers who fought during WWII not only on western but also on eastern fronts. In 1949-1950, there were six roundups (Action D) in which the former "bourgeois" officers were arrested by mixed teams of State Security and Military Intelligence guards; in fact, many times even in the contradiction with the then effective laws and regulations.

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.

In his review of the "Phenomenon of Alternative Service: Do not Kill for a State, Nevertheless Serve the Nation" by Bohuslav Pernica, dr. Antonín Rašek evaluates positively the choice of discussed theme, which is not only historical, but it has an importance for the future, as performing social and other activities with the use of a citizen compulsory service is still necessary. Some people consider introducing this sort of general service, together with the so-called volunteerism, as it is in our neighbour-Austria. The book is concentrated on the theme of alternative service mostly from economic point of view, social problems are only hinting and the influence of alternative service on the performance of compulsory military service in the former Czechoslovakia and in the Czech Republic is overlooked. It was in the early 90's when conscripted soldiers were thinking up various reasons why to evade military service, which seriously violated the performance of military service.

This paper discusses the methods of integrated risk management during evaluating the risk rates of military activities. Risk management is an important tool for effective implementation of secure surroundings. And vice versa, the level of security determines requirements concerning the transformation of armed forces, because this security level plays one of key roles in its implementation. The authors depict individual phases of integrated risk management that ought to be applied not only at the level of military units and groupings, but also during the whole process of security evaluation of acquisitions for missions or regions. The acceptation of subsidiarity principle means that this sort of risk management is a starting base for safeguarding global security. At the end the authors enumerate fundamental principles to be fulfilled first.

Manning Czech armed forces in peace, in time of danger or war, are backed by law regulations and DoD internal normative acts. In fact, Czech legislature is still insufficient, so the author advises its revision. Laws concerning defence ought to be timeless, further amendments beg the questions concerning their correctness. When the institute of ?Conscientious Objector? was established in 1990, the figures of soldiers in their compulsory service were reduced by 15-20 % of planned numbers. The membership in an established sect, background as an active pacifist was not required for an objector to be eligible for exemption from military service. Greece (the Hellenic Republic) is one of a few European countries still preserving the compulsory military service for all Greek young men even in time of peace. As conscientious objectors are not regarded those who served in armed forces in the past, who are legally entitled to own a deadly weapon, or were prosecuted or sentenced for an offence tied with arms. The author suggests adopting similar arrangements like in Greece.

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.

The outcomes of battles and fighting are significantly influenced by weather conditions. Together with other important circumstances they decide a chosen combat strategy, operational art, warfare tactics, and ways of personnel and vehicles deployment; consequently the volume of losses or casualties. The authors recount the establishing of weather service within individual arms, creating fi rst weather charts, they give details on situation in pre-war republic, during WWII, in the 50s, even after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. They mention the names of eminent personalities of Czech Hydrometeorological Service to be honoured and remembered. We must also remind that our Hydrometeorological Service works not only in favour of the ACR, but also for other NATO countries.

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.

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 most frequent word in language preparation is successfulness. This term could be quantified, defined, examined from the point of growth or rating decrease. Our language preparation sticks to Defence Minister Order No 1/2007 (effective from September 2010) on language training. It abolished integrated language courses, teaching units for SLP 1, 2 were decreased. The author examines the situation before and after the publication of the said order and provides possible explanations of the current state, showing slow descent. He supports his explanations with empirical data gathered in foregoing years, through surveys, statistical analyses of test results, in-class observations, and oral feedback from course learners.

In 1939-41 Mr. Kácha was involved in Czech home resistance movement. At the beginning of 1948, the year of communist coup d'état, he became a member of illegal group of democratic army officers and military "academics" (officer candidates) at the Military Academy Hranice, headed by Col. Alexandr Korda. They collected intelligence information and prepared plans for the situation of prospective liberation of Czechoslovakia by Western democratic armies, or the Soviet Union?under the pressure of bad economic conditions or under Western pressure?would withdraw from Eastern Europe. They planned to form control authority to prevent chaos and acts of violence. In September 1949 he was sentenced to life imprisonment, after the Velvet Revolution, in May 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. He was awarded the White Lion Order, Military Division.

Many security experts are of the opinion that the global security situation has been going worse af ter September 11, 2001. Even though Balkan wars ended, in fact, there are high tensions tied with Kosovo?s proclamation of independence, or in similar state of affairs in Macedonia. In Iraq, there some elements of improving, but in Afghanistan there are a lot of problems, we must mention tensions in Iran concerning building its nuclear capacities and missile tests, Russian-Georgian conflict, which is reflected in the policy of NATO enlargement: Georgia, the Ukraine were not accepted to NATO alliance. The reviewer highly appreciates this anthology of security studies, with the same title as this article. Editor Vlastimil Galatík, published by Defence University Brno, 2008.

The new book by historian František Hanzlík "Without Mercy and Compassion" deals with a prominent actor of the Czechoslovak People's Army and the Communist Party. His personality unites anti-Nazi fight in Soviet Russia, communist coup d'état in February 1948, monstrous political trials. He reached the height of career when he became Deputy Defence Minister and aspired to the position of Defence Minister. But in 1950, when Czech president's son-in-law Alexej Čepička held this office, his rapid decline began. In a sense, it was the start of his end.

The paper offers data on the water supply to Federal German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) combat units in the frame of ISAF operations. It explains new concept and technology of water purification and the exploration of natural water sources for BW water filling stations. Experiences have shown that clean water is of top priority especially in field missions such as that in Afghanistan. The systems of WTC 500, WTC 1600, WTC HS (High Salinity) and WTC container systems are able to prepare up to 15.000 litres of water supply every day. They are highly mobile, of friendly use, capable to work under rough climatic conditions. Built-in recycle systems could save as much as 60 per cent of operating costs. The water prepared by German purification stations is of high quality and meet both norms STANAG 2136 and WHO standards

Czechoslovak Legionnaires Abroad, Great Britain. After the occupation of Czech lands by German armed forces, M. F. Kašpar left for Poland, he fought in France. He became a member of Czechoslovak detached brigade in Great Britain, 1st Czech Corps in the USSR. Four days after the death of popular foreign secretary Jan Masaryk defected together with his two friends from the War Academy to American Zone in Bavaria, West Germany. He was employed with intelligence services till 1958. After the Velvet revolution he was legally rehabilitated and promoted to the rank of Major General. He used to be a brave soldier, with exceptional leader's capacity, who always served to his native land. He was one of founding members of the Czechoslovak Legionnaire Community.

He graduated from Political and Social University and the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University Prague. From 1950 till 1970 he served in the army, he became a member of editorial staff of military magazine A-revue. After the invasion of Warsaw Pact to the former Czechoslovakia, he was separated from the Army. First, he worked as a storeman, later as an instructor in the Central House of Pioneers and Youth. After 1990 he was legally rehabilitated, promoted to the rank of retired colonel and became an advisor to Deputy Defence Minister for Social and Humanitarian Affairs. At this time he laid down foundation of Military Chaplaincy in the Army of the Czech Republic. After leaving defence department, he became a pedagogue at the Catholic Theological Faculty and cooperated with the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.

Communications in which information of any kind, especially orders and decisions, are conveyed from one command, person, or place to another, are basic feature of all civilian organizations, namely as far as managerial work is concerned. In military, they are used within the armed forces, usually by means of electronic equipment, including communications security equipment, organic to the tactical forces. They are implemented in integrated surrounding NEC (Network Enabled Capability) by means of widening and updating field communication system of the AČR. NEC together with other key operational capacities will enable to change information power into higher operational effectivity and strength of Czech armed forces.

The article is a polemical expression of authors' opinion over this problem. It is related to the orientation of society, political coalitions, and single states towards higher goals. If we admit that the sustainable development of society is the base for securing a peace and stability, then we can state that the question of security or consecutively country defence cover problems of the whole social system, subsystems and system elements. Strategical decision-making ought to be the highest priority in our society. It is indisputable that such decisionmaking deserves scientifi c support. At the end of this article the authors propose a short algorithmic program for Czech military strategy that is planned for the year 2014 and the concept of Czech army development planned for 2015.

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.

This new generation war could be characterized by an emphasis on nonstate actors, by political and psychological forms of attacks that directly influence opponents. Other characteristics are as follows: extensive refugee flows, violence, transnational criminal aspects. Several factors will impact the nature, frequency and character of "small wars" in the 21st century. Failed/failing states, urbanization, diffusion of actors, communications technology, technological diffusion, religion, and ultra-terrorism. Clausewitz's fundamental appreciation for the primacy of political objectives as the guiding object in war remains relevant to "small wars" as does to interstate conflicts. The problem for today's strategist or policy maker is determining exactly what has changed, how the various means of stratecraft need to be adapted to the specific contingency at hand (according to The Journal of Strategic Studies, 6/2005).

Contemporary International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is the law of armed conflict or law of war and their effects. The goal of IHL is to limit the effects of warfare on people and property and to protect particularly vulnerable persons. The IHL does not exclude war activities as it acknowledges the principle of the so-called war necessity. Humanitarian law is the branch of public international law that comprises the rules, which, in times of armed conflict, seek to protect persons who are not or are no longer taking part in the hostilities, restrict the methods and means of warfare employed, and resolve matters of humanitarian concern resulting from war. This article is intended to help to soldiers to understand better IHL rules and principles.

In the near future, all joint deployments (activities, operations in which elements of two or more "branches of arms" participate) will be characterized as combined deployments (i.e. with forces or agencies of two or more allies). In view of those facts, Commanders (Army) Academy in Hamburg introduced a new concept of military schooling of GSOs, with regard to combined and multinational deployment and employment. Schooling and training are not mere matters of skill and proficiency. It is also the question of taking over responsibility, "action competence". GSOs must be able to react quickly, be capable to operate even in multinational agencies. This type of instruction underlines two main levels: firstly, the lessons must offer overall view not only on armed forces, but also on security, political, social development of forces, tied with their further advance. GSOs have to see problems and tasks in proper context, to "see the whole by eyes of its individual parts". This will give them a surprising sense of coherence. At the top of this schooling lies combined joint Euro-exercise, at operational level, being prepared in cooperation with military academies from allied European nations.

It is a book review over the book by Prof. F. Ochrana (editor). Its authors tried to define dimensions and leading actors of the so-called strategical governance in the conditions of the Czech Republic with a special respect to strategical planning in public policy. Two chapters of this book are concentrated on military and defence problems. Predispositions for strategical control are backed by the creation and implementation of strategical documents. Among further themes discussed belonged also the White Paper on Defence. We specifically need single or comparative case studies that examine the process of formulating security strategies and their implementation, the interaction between respective processes at national and international levels, and the results of security policy implementation in respective cases.

Prof. Dr. Štefan Volner, CSc., is a very diligent and prolific author. He is the author of many monographs, books, papers and articles in the field of security and defence policy published worldwide. Now we have his latest two books: Security of Mankind (Bezpečnosť ĺudstva) and Security for the 21st Century (Bezpečnosť 21. storočí). In the former one, he comes out of a broad concept of security. Dr. Volner regards the theory of securitization as a lingual and socially determined construct, and so does analyses of security topics. The purpose of his first monograph is to familiarize experts and students with new theoretical concepts, ideas, methodological approaches and paradigms. The latter monograph has a classical structure tied with security studies; it contains theoretical fundaments, dealing with global risks and classifies wars of 21st century. He regards human security as a multifaceted phenomenon, at macro- and micro- levels.

The purpose of this study is to analyse system of economic control at a level of expense institution of the ACR in comparison with theoretical approaches and experiences of civilian company economics and the practice of NATO armies. The author wants to postulate necessary prerequisites widening the space for rationale economy behaviour and decision-making of leading army management. He creates an economic model constituting methods, proceedings, tools of economic control in all phases of budgeting and accounting processes, behaviour of the whole economic system of defence department. The case study is based upon the presentation delivered at the international conference on economy, logistics and ecology in armed forces taking place at IDET 2009 trade fair. Proposed methods should be used for sources allocation, value based management costing transparency, resulting in saving sources and increasing personal responsibility.

The document "Security and Stabilization: the Military Contribution UK revision of Joint COIN doctrine" was created by the team of authors of DCDC (Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre), Defence Ministry, Great Britain. The publication was similarly as other JDP series written as an instruction manual for members of armed forces to solve at general level the tasks in missions abroad, in disintegrated countries: security, stabilisation and insecurity, strengthening the capacity within armed forces to work alongside civilians for certain specific, short-term reconstruction, development tasks in hostile environments, and to provide a stabilisation presence in the immediate aftermath of a military operation while sufficient security is put in place to enable civilians to deploy. It is highly recommendable literature for members at the level of join staffs, participants in stabilization operations, or for attenders of Higher General Staff Courses.

In spite of the fact that it is a new concept, it presents one of key methods of international engagement in crisis areas the EU prefers. Its main components are crises prevention and securing stabilization. Security tasks are composite problems solving one of main state functions: to guard external and internal security together with principles of civil control. This essay among others aims to explain practicability of the EU's concept of preventive engagement as a tool of implementation of the European Security Strategy, further it describes European concept for crisis management missions in the field of civilian administration supporting security and justice. At the end there are some recommendations for the Czech Republic how to form capacities for EU missions and for the transformation of Czech security sectors.

The very modern trends in the forces of advanced countries are hiring private civilian companies, private enterprises, in everyday performance of armed forces. As this phenomenon is very frequent, the authors decided to go into its roots, to find a common cause of this fact. In the past, armies were closed societies, self-sufficient, independent from states. Today, gradually, soldiers became more concentrated on key military tasks and supporting functions are transferred to private companies. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) takes over mechanics used in private sector: it integrates economy dimension. Above all, it is transparency of bookkeeping, which ought to give evidence on savings in everyday life of forces. The Bundeswehr uses the so-called Market Testing, as a means of practical cooperation for engaging private capital. All those fact are cited as thoughprovoking.