The mobilization of 18-20-year-olds, which has been discussed a lot lately, is complete nonsense and unnecessary panic in society, said Vitaliy Gersak, a volunteer soldier and lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in an interview with Apostrophe.
"First, we need to deal with the law on mobilization, which was adopted six months ago and still doesn't work like hell. Have all the thugs, majors, relatives of MPs and officials over the age of 25 been mobilized? The news shows how the TKK officers started coming to concerts, restaurants, nightclubs and gyms, but what are the results of these raids? How do they end - with mobilization or with a payoff for money?" - Gersak expressed his position.
According to Gersak, 18- to 20-year-olds are a reserve that should be considered only in the most critical cases.
"Where are all these 40-year-old retirees from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service, the tax police, etc.? Several brigades could be assembled from young colonels and generals alone. I have the right to say this because as a colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine, I did not go anywhere in my time, but withdrew from the departmental mobilization reserve to join the Armed Forces.
We have several million more adults, physically healthy and trained men who can be mobilized without touching 18-20 year olds. Where is the justice and logic in drafting a young man whose father or brother is already at war, or who is the only son in the family? Remember history: the Cossacks protected the only sons and the last men in the family and put them in the last ranks. Otherwise, who will take care of the elderly and continue their family? Who will learn civilian professions if young people are mobilized? Who will live and work in this country in 5-10 years?" the soldier said.
He believes that we should not confuse the militarization of the state with "warfare" in the minds of those who, for the most part, have not even mobilized.
"Militarization is when the army is provided with everything it needs first, and then new cars are bought for officials. It is when the children of high-ranking officials serve in the army on an equal footing with others, or work as volunteers in hospitals, instead of running around drunk after curfew. All you need to know about our militarization is that the last Prime Minister who served in the army was Viktor Yushchenko," Gersak believes.