On Monday, February 9, 2026, at the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (SG WP), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Defence Cezary Tomczyk, Chief of the General Staff Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, and the commander of the Cyberspace Defense Forces Component Command (DK WOC), Maj. Gen. Karol Molenda, took part in a press conference dedicated to the Universal Voluntary Defense Training program “wGotowości.” During the conference, officials presented the conclusions from the program’s 2025 pilot phase, the training plan for 2026, as well as new solutions concerning reserve training.
Photo: Krzysztof Niedziela/Ministry Of National Defence
“I would like to sincerely thank everyone who took part in the wGotowości program. It is an expression of patriotism, of responsibility for oneself, for one’s family, for neighbors, for Poland, for all of us — for society as a whole. I am very pleased to see the interest in subsequent military service. The armed forces pursue this for several reasons. First, we treat national defense as a matter of awareness for the entire society. A state defends itself with the strength of all its citizens – not only with the strength of institutions, not only with those who are formally called up, but with the strength of all of us. If an attack occurs, if there is a threat to our sovereignty and independence, if our security is endangered, then we are all called upon to defend it. From March 7 until the end of November, the next edition of the wGotowości program will take place. Its goal is to raise qualifications and skills, to build social strength and societal resilience – including resilience against disinformation, which today is our greatest enemy,” said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
“We have a professional army system, primarily reinforced by reserves, the Territorial Defence Forces, and those currently in training. They, too, are counted as part of the strength and potential of our armed forces. For all of us, 2026 will be the year of reserves, the year of reservists, the year of change in the reserve system. Our ambition is an Army of 500 – a force of 500,000 personnel, a significant portion of whom will be in the highest readiness reserve. When we speak of an Army of 500, we mean the capability of both a 300,000-strong professional regular force, permanently maintained at full readiness, and an additional several hundred thousand personnel who will stand ready as reservists. They will serve at varying levels of readiness – as we have both active and passive reserves, and within the active reserve a so-called high-readiness component, which will train more frequently and be more readily employable. It will also send a strong signal to those who might wish to threaten our security,” the Minister of National Defence added.
The Ministry of National Defence, together with the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, planned and implemented a pilot edition of the universal voluntary defense training program “wGotowości” in 2025, in which more than 16,000 people participated. As announced, the wGotowości training will continue this year. Group courses for companies will also be launched, along with a new format for reserve training.
“For reserve exercises to become attractive, we need changes, and we are prepared for them. These include legislative changes aimed at improving the quality and flexibility of service, ensuring full readiness, and allowing reservists to choose their own path, including selecting the days on which they wish to train, as well as introducing compensation for participation in exercises, which has never existed before. We are not changing the system of calling reservists up for exercises, but we are supplementing it with a voluntary reserve component that will also include specific financial benefits. Flexibility of service, the ability to choose qualifications and courses in a clear and structured manner, these are key elements. We already have positive experience with specialized reserves such as the Cyber Legion and the Medical Legion, both of which are developing. The Cyber Legion is already highly advanced, around 3,000 personnel, while the Medical Legion has completed its first stage, with several hundred individuals already having volunteered to participate,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.
This is the first initiative of such broad scope in Poland allowing any adult to acquire practical skills essential in crisis situations. The objective is to permanently incorporate the Universal Voluntary Defense Training program into the state security framework as a standing program that will train citizens annually, thereby strengthening Poland’s defense potential.
“As the Prime Minister said, March 7 marks the first training session. The training will continue throughout the year and conclude on November 21. This year, we aim to significantly increase the number of participants who can be trained. With regard to individual training, we estimate that around 30,000 adult citizens will complete the program. As for group training, we expect approximately 40,000 Poles to participate. (…) From our perspective, the most important goal is to build a genuine sense of agency and self-confidence in crisis situations among every Polish citizen, both men and women. This is crucial from the standpoint of the state,” said Deputy Minister Cezary Tomczyk.
During the conference summarizing the first stage of the wGotowości program, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, announced that 2026 has been designated the Year of the Reserves in the Polish Armed Forces. As he emphasized, it will be a year in which the Polish military intends to use pilot programs to verify, from a military perspective, the most important and most challenging component of the wGotowości program: the reserve pathway. According to the Chief of the General Staff, the goal is to change the model for developing reservists’ competencies and maintaining their readiness for service, as well as to increase the number of reserve personnel.
“Everything we are doing is strongly rooted in the Armed Forces Development Program for 2025–2039, whose foundation is the so-called ‘Big Seven,’” the general stated.
“In the pilot edition, we recorded over 650,000 interactions with our service, and those interested expected concrete information before clicking ‘sign up.’ That is why we launched a new, refreshed website for individuals who want to become soldiers www.zostanzolnierzem.pl, where all the necessary information is presented clearly and transparently. There is no need to search the web or look for information elsewhere. Here, everything is provided in full,” added Maj. Gen. Karol Molenda, commander of the Cyber Defense Forces Component Command (DK WOC).
