Editing Bulgarian Armed Forces (section)

===Personnel and education===
[[File:Rakovski Military Academy.JPG|thumb|250px|Rakovski Defence and Staff College]]

Bulgaria's total military personnel as of 2014 is 37,100, of which 30,400 (80.1%) are active military personnel and 8,100 (11.9%) are civilian personnel. The Land Forces are the largest branch, with at least 18,000 men serving there. In terms of percentage, 53% of all Army personnel are in the Land Forces, 25% are in the Air Force, 13% are in the Navy and 9% are in the Joint Forces Command.<ref name="mod.bg"/> Annual spending per soldier amounts to 30,000 leva (~ 15,000 euro) and is scheduled to increase to 43,600 leva by 2014.<ref>White Paper, p. 32</ref>

Unlike many former Soviet bloc militaries, [[discipline]] and morale problems are not common.<ref>[http://www.md.government.bg/bg/20090121.html Конференция на тема: „Роля и място на органите за ръководство при планиране и провеждане на национални и съюзни военни операции на територията на Република България”], 21 January 2009, Ministry of Defense {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bgarmy.eu/?action=news&id=11269 Отчитат удовлетворяваща дисциплина във войската] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905122640/http://www.bgarmy.eu/?action=news&id=11269 |date=5 September 2011 }}, ''Bulgarian Army'', 10 February 2011</ref> During the Communist era, the army members enjoyed extensive social privileges. After the fall of Communism and Bulgaria's transition to a [[market economy]], wages fell severely. For almost a decade social benefits were virtually non-existent, and some of them have been restored but recently. [[Nikolai Tsonev]], defence minister under the 2005–2009 cabinet, undertook steps to provide the members of the military and their families with certain privileges in terms of healthcare and education, and to improve living conditions.<ref>[http://www.blitz.bg/news/article/46516 Нови социални придобивки за военните], Blitz.bg, 29 April 2009</ref>

Military education in Bulgaria is provided in military universities and academies. Due to cuts in spending and manpower some universities have been disbanded and their campuses were included as faculties of other, larger educational entities. The largest institutions of military education in Bulgaria are:
* [[Vasil Levski National Military University]]
* [[Rakovski Defence and Staff College]]
* [[Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy]]
* [[Military Medical Academy (Bulgaria)|Military Medical Academy]] – a mixed military academy/hospital institution