On Sunday, March 12, at the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade in Wesola, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak met with participants of the "Train with NATO" project.

"Poland is strong also in the alliances, as evidenced by the presence of American, British, Romanian and Croatian soldiers on Polish soil. But which is also evidenced by the presence of Polish soldiers in Romania or Latvia and anywhere else the North Atlantic Alliance has decided to support our Allies."

- Deputy Prime Minister noted.

Military training for civilians being part of a special edition of the "Train with the Army" project was organized on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of Poland's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. During the one-day training, qualified military instructors introduced those willing to participate to the basics of: firearms handling, survival principles, close combat, medical assistance, and behavior during an alarm.

In the special edition called "Train with NATO," some of the activities for the participants were conducted by soldiers of the Allied forces, who serve on Polish territory on a daily basis.

"Today nearly 500 participants signed up for the "Train with the Army" program, which is being carried out right here in Wesola. This is a one-day edition, the most numerous as far as applications are concerned. In the spring we will start another, the third edition of our program. In the fall and winter editions, more than 11,000 people benefited from our training. It's focusing on providing the basic principles of weapon handling, medical first aid, and survival - such as lighting a campfire or water purification. There is also an opportunity to learn skills, those basic skills of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense."

- stressed Deputy Prime Minister.

The training given to the project's volunteers is free and safe - activities take place under the guidance of experienced military instructors, often veterans of foreign missions. It's well spent time and a real military adventure.

"Poland is part of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world. We must have our armed forces strong enough to have sufficient deterrent power. Building a strong army starts with strong public finances. It is from the Polish budget that we finance the Polish Armed Forces today, foreign purchases, the recapitalization of our Polish armaments plants. (...) We will strengthen the Polish Military - as we are convinced this is the proper strategy of action. The Polish Armed Forces must be so strong that ideally they never have to be used."

- Prime Minister M. Morawiecki said.

The head of the Ministry of Defense recalled that the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade will soon receive the most modern Abrams tanks.

"It is precisely here in the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, that there will be Abrams tanks later this year. They will be in the hands of our soldiers, they will guard our security on the NATO Alliance's eastern flank, namely in eastern Poland"

- he said.

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Previous editions of the "Train with the Army" project were very popular. During the autumn edition, we trained 4,000 people, and during winter holidays' training - 7,000 willing participants. More than 98.5% of the participants declared that the training met their expectations and that it was worthwhile to apply for.

The 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade is part of the 18th Mechanized Division. The division has garrisons located in Warsaw - Wesola, Siedlce and Biała Podlaska. The essential equipment of the Warsaw brigade is Leopard tanks in the 2PL and 2A5 versions. According to the announcement of Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of National Defense, it is the unit that will receive the first Abrams tanks as early as this year.