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(CNN) -- Experts say the deaths of senior military chiefs in Saturday's plane crash could have more serious implications for Poland than the loss of the country's president. President Lech Kaczynski was killed Saturday when a plane carrying senior Polish officials on their way to a memorial service in Russia crashed at an airport in Smolensk.. Ninety-seven people were killed including the president's wife, the deputy parliament speaker, the deputy foreign minister and the head of the National Bank of Poland. "The entire top military brass, including the chief of defense and all the services, were on the plane," said...

Polish soldier dies in Afghanistan Published: 09.11.09, 13:31 / Israel News Poland's Defense Ministry says a soldier has been killed and four others injured in an exchange of fire with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Thirty-year-old Pfc. Piotr Marciniak was killed Thursday in the eastern Ghazni province after a group of 30 Polish troops was sent to support a U.S.-Afghan force that encountered Taliban fire.

Armed Forces Day in Poland 15.08.2009 12:42 A Memorial Appeal taking place Friday began this year’s Armed Forces Day and 89th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw, also known as the Miracle at the Vistula. The official ceremony, paying tribute to fallen soldiers, took place at the capital’s Powazki Military Cemetery. During the observance, deputy defense minister Czeslaw Piatas highlighted the fact that the 15th of August is an especially important day for Poles, as it inspires them to think about the rich heritage of the Polish army, and the future of the army, now facing professionalization and modernization. Today,...

Afghan Taliban kill a Polish soldier WARSAW, Poland, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A 32-year-old NATO soldier from Poland was killed and four others were injured in a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan, military officials said Tuesday. Polish Capt. Daniel Ambrozinski was in command of a patrol of Polish and Afghan troops operating as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the eastern Ajuristan district Monday when they came under small arms fire, Polish Radio said. In the Taliban attack four Poles were injured and Ambrozinski was declared missing. He was found dead Tuesday, Polish Lt. Col. Dariusz Kacperczyk...

Taliban bring down Polish helicopter gunship 6th August 2009 Mi-24 helicopter shot down in Afghanistan, crew survive Gazeta Wyborcza reports that on July 31 an Mi-24 helicopter gunship which was on route from Kabul to the Ghazni province in Afghanistan with nine soldiers on board caught fire. "At around 5.30 pm flames started to come out of one of the engines. Then the second engine went off. The helicopter lost height. The lives of those on board were saved by the skills of the pilot," says the informer quoted by the daily. While the crew survived, the zł.30 million helicopter...

The Polish government plans to strengthen Poland's military contingent in Afghanistan this spring, Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said on Wednesday. "We have already started work on a related motion to the president," the minister was quoted as saying by Polish news agency PAP. An additional 400 soldiers will be deployed in Afghanistan, where Poland commands the province of Ghazni, reported daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. Poland currently has 1,600 soldiers in that country. According to the defense minister, the increase could be possible at the turn of May and June when the 5th shift of Polish soldiers would leave for Afghanistan....

Polish Special Forces to fight Somali pirates Created: 03.01.2009 10:02 Polish Special Forces from the Operation Mobile Reaction Group (GROM) are to join European Union troops fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. Several dozen commandos are scheduled to go to Somalia to take part in the EU anti-piracy operation, code-named Atalanta. The idea arose when, in November, the Saudi based tanker, ‘Sirius Star,’ with a crew including two Poles - the captain and a crew member - on board plus 2 million barrels of oil. The pirates are demanding 25 million dollars in ransom money. Somali pirates have been...

Poland ended its military presence in Iraq Saturday with a ceremony for its approximately 900 troops at Camp Echo, Qadasiyah Province.The Polish army commanded Multi-National Division - Center South, which operated throughout Qadasiyah Province.Polish forces completed 10 rotations in Iraq, which ended October 1, and commanded 10 national contingents, including Armenia, Latvia, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  To the memory and honor of the Polish soldiers who fought, worked and lost their lives in Iraq, 2003-2008   It  was in the first days of the operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003.  Despite numerous attempts of the British forces to take a startegic...

Poland ended its military presence in Iraq Saturday with a ceremony for its approximately 900 troops at Camp Echo, Qadasiyah Province.

Mine kills three Polish soldiers in Afghanistan 21 August 2008 | 00:09 | FOCUS News Agency Warsaw. An exploding mine killed three Polish soldiers in Afghanistan Wednesday, seriously injuring a fourth member of their patrol, the Polish army told PAP news agency. The blast happened about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from their Ghazni base in central Afghanistan, Major Jacek Poplawski told the agency. The wounded soldier, part of a 1,200-strong Polish contingent attached to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), was transported by helicopter to another base at Bagram, he added. Polish troop numbers in Afghanistan are due to rise...

Poland introduces professional army www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-06 07:14:40 WARSAW, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Polish government on Tuesday passed a military reform program designed to turn Poland's army into a professional force, according to Polish news agency PAP. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after a cabinet meeting that Poland's obligatory draft would end with this year and that by 2010 Poland would have a fully professional army numbering 120,000troops. Currently Poland's armed forces number over 124,000 soldiers. Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, speaking to Polish Radio One on Tuesday, said at present career soldiers constitute some 64 percent of the entire military...

In tribute to Polish air force officers. A memorial in tribute to 20 Polish air force officers who died in the crash of the Casa transport plane two months has been unveiled in the Mirosławiec air base in north-western Poland. It consists of a stone plaque with the names of all the victims of the disaster, a wooden cross and the stabilizer recovered from the plane’s wreckage. The ceremony was attended by members of the officers’ families and by high-ranking military officials including the Chief of the General Staff.

... "The United States recognizes the need for Polish forces to be modernized," Bush told reporters. He said "before my watch is over" -- he leaves office in January 2009. ...

Text of report in English by Polish national independent news agency PAP Warsaw, 27 February: Two Polish soldiers died and one was injured on Tuesday [26 February] when their Humvee vehicle hit a roadside bomb near their base in Afghanistan, the Polish Defence Ministry has said. The explosive device blew up the vehicle some 3 kilometres from the Polish base in Sharana in the Paktika province, the ministry said. According to the report the wounded soldier's life is not in danger. The soldiers were returning to the base after a humanitarian mission when one of vehicles in a column drove...

Poland remains loyal in Afghanistan 08.02.2008 Poland will strengthen its troops in Afghanistan, informs RZECZPOSPOLITA. Review by Aleksander Kropiwnicki As Bogdan Klich, the Polish Defense Minister announced last Thursday during the NATO meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, by July 2008 the number of Polish soldiers based in Afghanistan would be as high as 1600. ‘NATO cannot lose in Afghanistan if it doesn’t want to cause a new wave of terrorist attacks in the West’, warned in Vilnius Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the General Secretary of NATO, quoted by RZECZPOSPOLITA. All the Polish troops in Afghanistan will be concentrated in one region...

Polish army plane in fatal crash A military transport plane has crashed near the north-western Polish town of Miroslawiec, killing at least seven of the 10 people on board, officials say. Fire service spokesman Pawel Fratczak told TVN24 the Casa C-295M came down in a wood while attempting to land at a Polish air force base, causing a fire. Mr Fratczak said the air force had told him six passengers and four crew members were on board the plane. The emergency services are continuing to search for the remaining three. TVN24 said the plane was carrying officials taking part in...

Thousands of young Poles are moving to Britain to avoid being drafted into their country's army. All Polish men over 18 must serve nine months' national service. But since Poland joined the EU in 2004 thousands have come to the UK to get out of it. Now Poland has ordered a crackdown on the draft-dodgers and they face up to three years in jail if they return home. Scroll down for more...Duty: Polish men are expected to complete nine months' national service Colonel Wojciech Ozga, a spokesman for the Polish Army, said: "Poles of conscription age who do not inform...

Poles believe in detained soldiers and blame commanders 16.11.2007 07:49 The Poles believe that the 7soldiers of the 1st shift of the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, who were arrested on Thursday on war crime charges must have had a reason to attack, a poll by SMG/KRC reveals. In a mortar assault on Nangar Khel village in Afghanistan on August 16 Polish soldiers killed 6 civilians, including two children. The majority of the questioned in the poll published in 'Fakt' answered that they do not believe that the Polish soldiers who shelled the Afghan village did that without a reason...

We want you for the Polish army! 05.11.2007 Polish army is launching a special campaign to encourage young people to join the army voluntarily. Defense Ministry hopes to be able to end the draft and create a fully professionaly army by 2013. Joanna Najfeld reports We want you for the Polish army! Soldiers trained especially for the occasion will be promoting the military profession all over Poland. The aim of the campaign is to attract young men and women with a passion for the army, says Poland's Defense Minister Aleksander Szczygło: 'First of all passion and interest in the army,...