By 8 a.m. on a Saturday, nearly every seat in the room was filled. There were families and office colleagues, couples holding hands, grandmothers and teenage boys. A group of eight mothers and their teen daughters passed around snacks, drinks and hand cream.<\/p>\n
They had gathered at the headquarters of the 133 Light Infantry Battalion of the 13th Silesian Territorial Defense Brigade in Ciescyn in southern Poland for emergency preparedness training.<\/p>\n
The civilian training sessions are part of a new and ambitious plan by Poland\u2019s government to ready its 38 million or so people for the possibility of a military attack from Russia. The program, wGotowosci, or Readiness, is \u201cthe largest defense training in Polish history,\u201d the country\u2019s defense minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, said when announcing it in November. He hopes 400,000 citizens will complete the training by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
As the Ukraine war grinds on in its fifth year, the threat of a belligerent Russia hangs heavy. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has repeatedly provoked European leaders with hybrid or \u201cgray zone\u201d warfare<\/a>, testing the resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with disinformation campaigns, sabotage and cyberattacks.<\/p>\n The challenge for Poland<\/a> \u2014 and every other country in Europe \u2014 is how to battle-harden a peacetime economy while preparing for war. And it is one that has gained urgency as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has further strained relations between President Trump and Europe\u2019s leaders, who declined to join in the bombing campaign or in the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, the U.S. Defense Department said it would withdraw 5,000 American troops<\/a> from Germany and cancel a plan to put a missile-equipped artillery unit<\/a> in Europe.<\/p>\n Poland has responded faster and harder than any other European nation, increasing its defense spending to 5 percent of its gross domestic product, and buying tanks, jet fighters, drones, missiles, guns and ammunition as if on a Black Friday spending spree. It is also enlarging its 215,000-member professional armed forces, the third largest in the North Atlantic alliance after the United States and Turkey.<\/p>\n But preparing civilians without panicking them presents a different kind of logistic, economic and psychological challenge. Training has to be integrated into lives already full with responsibilities at home, work, school and more.<\/p>\n Poles have seen firsthand the impact of invasion. Millions of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have crossed their border since Russia\u2019s first surprise dawn attacks in February 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cSecurity begins in the heads of society,\u201d Lt. Col. Dariusz Pawlik told the group at the start of the Saturday session. \u201cI hope this training will be useful to you, and I wish you never to need to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n Several countries near or bordering Russia \u2014 including Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Lithuania \u2014 are also doing some form of civilian defense preparation.<\/p>\n In Poland, the army command recognized \u201cthat our civil defense was practically nonexistent,\u201d said Lt. Tomasz Dzierga, the battalion\u2019s spokesman.<\/p>\n This daylong course, with sections on cybersecurity, crisis preparation and emergency first aid, is open to schoolchildren, stay-at-home parents, full-time workers and seniors.<\/p>\n For Natalia Szoltysek, 25, it is a first step toward possibly joining the army as a professional soldier.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel a drive, I want to help,\u201d Ms. Szoltysek said during the lunch break, when the canteen doled out vegetable soup in white bowls. She quit her job in December to start fitness training. \u201cI\u2019ve already lost a lot of weight,\u201d she said proudly, pulling at the waistband of her denim and lace jeans.<\/p>\n On her right arm is a red and black tattoo of a bullet blasting through a skull, inspired, she said with a giggle, by the video game Call of Duty. On her upper chest, the word \u201cchaos\u201d is tattooed in gothic script surrounded by a bed of red roses.<\/p>\n To Ms. Szoltysek, the atmosphere these days feels more like a cold war than peacetime. \u201cThere\u2019s something in the air,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The survivalist session offered instructions on how to use everyday items around the house in emergencies. Dryer lint is good kindling for a fire. A big garbage bag can keep out the rain. A bucket with a lid can be used as a makeshift toilet.<\/p>\n There were long discussions about how to find and purify water, and what to include in an emergency escape backpack: a lighter, a flashlight, tape, string, medicines, a knife, a radio, rechargeable batteries, a blanket, food.<\/p>\n \u201cAlways take spare socks,\u201d the instructor advised. And you might want earplugs, he added. There are always lots of snorers in emergency shelters.<\/p>\n He offered other tips. If you have to evacuate, leave a message for a family member on a wall \u2014 not a slip of paper \u2014 with a durable signal marker. And write important contact information for young children on their skin in case they get lost.<\/p>\n Jacek Gluchowski, 52, and Tomasz Cios, 51, who work together as project managers for a furniture company, signed up for a series of training sessions. For more than a year, they have been discussing what supplies to have on hand in case of an attack. Now, Mr. Gluchowski said he planned to prepare an emergency backpack for every member of his family.<\/p>\n The pressure to increase defense readiness comes when European governments are under enormous economic strain. Many countries are struggling with slow growth and heavy debt loads while having to budget more for security.<\/p>\n And now, the economic outlook has darkened considerably given the spike in costs for fuel, fertilizer and other goods caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Magdalena Biskup, part of the group of mothers and daughters, said it was the arrival of a 48-page emergency preparation guide recently sent by the government to every household that, for the first time, brought home the reality of the threat.<\/p>\n Several participants, though, said friends and family did not necessarily share their level of concern. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to hear about it,\u201d said Krystian Kucharski, 33, who came to the training with his girlfriend. \u201cThey pretend not to notice.\u201d<\/p>\n The government offers different types of preparedness and military training to the public. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last year that he wanted every adult male to undergo military training.<\/p>\n One selling point of becoming a part-time soldier in a territorial brigade \u2014 the equivalent of a national guard \u2014 is that you can keep your job. Lieutenant Dzierga mentioned other perks, like 75 percent off rail tickets.<\/p>\n Beata Brance-Gorgosz, 54, a mediator, said she had considered joining the professional army but did not want to quit working. So she has signed up to join the brigade as a part-time soldier and has already completed a 27-day military training course.<\/p>\n The other participants at the course, mostly young men, called her \u201cMother,\u201d she said. \u201cI was teaching them how to march,\u201d said Ms. Brance-Gorgosz, who has worked as a mountain guide.<\/p>\n For emergency first-aid training, everyone returned to the lunchroom to practice pulmonary resuscitation on a dummy. The instructor reminded rescuers to spend no more than 10 seconds checking for breathing before starting chest compressions.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause what\u2019s most important?\u201d he asked the group.<\/p>\n \u201cTime,\u201d they responded in unison.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce again,\u201d he commanded.<\/p>\n \u201cTime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce again,\u201d he repeated for emphasis.<\/p>\n \u201cTime.\u201d<\/p>\n Magdalena Szalonik, another mother in the group, said a friend had suggested they all do the daylong training together.<\/p>\n Her daughter and her schoolmates said they were just happy to spend the day together.<\/p>\n Ms. Szalonik agreed to attend but was skeptical.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t convinced it would be very useful,\u201d she said at the end of the day, \u201cbut I was totally surprised.\u201d The information, she added, was precise and useful, not only for war but for any crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI became more aware of the danger we may face,\u201d she said. \u201cI think I was a bit reckless about it before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By 8 a.m. on a Saturday, nearly every seat in the room was filled. 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