Dispatch of military mobilization cards. Priority call-up rules.

• Mobilization cards are documents issued to citizens as part of the national defense system.
• The aim of creating this system is to ensure the state's readiness in situations of threats and crises.
• - The cards are sent every year and this does not mean an announcement of mobilization or the outbreak of war - emphasize representatives of the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Army.

Mobilization cards are sent by Military Recruitment Centers (WCR). Receiving such a registered letter does not, of course, guarantee deployment to the front. Instead, the card is a document issued as part of the national defense system.

The issuance of mobilization cards in Poland is regulated by the Homeland Defense Act and the Ministry of National Defense regulation of May 22, 2024, on organizational and mobilization allocations and mobilization cards. These regulations define the principles for issuing mobilization cards and the related procedures.

A mobilization card is a document confirming the assignment of a person to a specific service position (employee position) in a military unit or to perform a specific function in peacetime.

Portalobronny.se.pl reminds that there are the following types of mobilization cards:

• a mobilization card with a red stripe , the specimen of which is specified in Annex 1 to the Regulation - intended for a Polish soldier who is obliged to report for active military service in the event of mobilization and during war;
• a mobilization card with a green stripe , the template of which is specified in Annex 2 to the Regulation - intended for a Polish soldier called up for active military service by means of a call-up card or by way of announcement;
• a mobilization card with a blue stripe , the template of which is specified in Annex 3 to the Regulation - intended for employees of the Ministry of National Defence or other persons who are not employees of the Ministry of National Defence.

As Konkret24 emphasizes, granting an employee a mobilization assignment does not, in peacetime, mean participation in military exercises, conscription, or deployment to a conflict zone . Only during mobilization, martial law, or war must an employee with such an assignment report to the place and time specified on their mobilization card.

"Such an assignment can be given to virtually anyone, and a lack of military training is not an obstacle. What matters is whether the employee has the qualifications necessary for a given military unit during wartime, whether they have completed appropriate courses or training, and whether they are a specialist in a given field," Konkret24 emphasizes.

As Gazeta Wyborcza points out, collecting the cards and reporting to the assigned mobilization site is mandatory , as mobilization cards are documents issued to citizens as part of the national defense system. Its purpose is to ensure the state's preparedness in situations of threats and crises.

The cards are sent out every year and - as the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Army emphasize - this does not mean an announcement of mobilization or the outbreak of war.

- we read in "Gazeta Wyborcza".

Mobilization cards will be issued to men who turn 19 in a given calendar year and to women who possess qualifications essential to the functioning of the state during the crisis or are pursuing education to obtain them. These may include:

• reserve soldiers with specific military qualifications,
• people with specialized skills (e.g. medicine, logistics, IT, communications),
• officers of uniformed services and people with experience in state structures,
• civilians assigned to defense tasks (e.g. administration, energy, transport).

Mobilization assignments are granted to reserve soldiers who meet all of the following conditions :

• have appropriate military training or qualifications or education for the position held in a given military specialty or for the function performed,
• have the appropriate category of fitness for active military service,
• do not live permanently abroad,
• have not reached the established upper age limit specified in Article 5 of the Act of 11 March 2022 on the Defense of the Homeland, hereinafter referred to as the "Act",
• have Polish citizenship,
• have not been sentenced by a final judgment to imprisonment without conditional suspension of its execution.

Pursuant to Article 687 of the Homeland Defense Act of 2022 (evading reporting for military service during mobilization or war), whoever, during mobilization or war, being called up for active military service , does not report for this service at the specified time and place, shall be subject to the penalty of imprisonment for a term of not less than 3 years.