Editing Austrian Armed Forces (section)

==Conscription, training and reserves==
[[Image:Pioniere beim Brueckenbau 1.jpg|thumb|right|Engineers from the 2nd Engineer Battalion building a bridge during an exhibition in the city of [[Salzburg]]]]
[[Image:Radpanzer Pandur (5054184982).jpg|thumb|[[Riot control|Crowd and riot control]] training]]
[[Image:Kampfpanzer Leopard 2A4, KPz 4.JPG|thumb|[[Leopard 2]] and [[M88 Recovery Vehicle]] of the 14th Tank Battalion]]
[[Image:HofburgParade.jpg|thumb|right|Soldiers on parade on Austrian National Day in 2006]]
[[Image:Austrian forces at Combined Resolve II (14236022975).jpg|thumb|right|Paratroopers of the 25th Infantry Battalion]]

Until 1971, Austrian males were obligated to serve nine months in the armed forces, followed by four days of active service every two years for training and inspection.<ref name=":0" /> In 1971 the period of initial service was reduced to six months, followed by a total of sixty days of refresher training in the reserves.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="HronikaBelgrade">{{cite book |editor-first=Milutin |editor-last=Tomanović |date=1972 |title=Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1971 |trans-title=The Chronicle of International Events in 1971 |url= |language=sh |page= 2723 |location=[[Belgrade]] |publisher=[[Institute of International Politics and Economics]] |isbn=}}</ref> In the early 1990s, about 45,000 conscripts completed their initial military training every year, and 80,000 reservists participated in some form of exercises each year.<ref name=":0" />

Reducing the mobilization strength of the army to 120,000 under the New Army Structure plan is to be accomplished in part by limiting initial training of recruits to six months, followed by reducing the period allotted for refresher training from twenty years to ten years.<ref name=":0" /> Each reservist is to receive training over a twelve-day period every second year during his first ten years of reserve duty, generally not extending beyond the time he reaches his mid-thirties.<ref name=":0" /> The reduced need for conscripts corresponds to a lower pool of young men because of a declining birth rate.<ref name=":0" /> The availability of about 40,000 fit trainees annually in 1993 was expected to fall to barely 30,000 by 2000 and to 26,000 by 2015.<ref name=":0" />

In 2006 conscription was reduced to six months total. Mandatory reserve training was abolished.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Military service age and obligation - The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-01-20 |title=Neutral Austria votes to keep military draft |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-military-referendum-idUSBRE90J0DC20130120 |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wasinger |first=Matthias |date=2020 |title=From Strategy to Military Capability: the Austrian Example |url=https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/from-strategy-to-military-capability-the-austrian-example/ |journal=Military Strategy Magazine |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=40–45}}</ref> Since then the army reserve battalions (Miliz) are suffering from a lack of new reservists and are therefore overaging.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Under a 1974 law, conscientious objectors can be assigned work as medical orderlies, or other occupations in lieu of military service.<ref name=":0" /> Exemptions from service are liberally granted—in 1992 about 12,000 persons were exempted, a great increase over the 1991 total of 4,500.<ref name=":0" /> The increase occurred after a new law, valid only for 1992 and 1993, no longer required young men to present their objections to the military in a credible way.<ref name=":0" /> Previously, that had not been the case.<ref name=":0" /> In 1990, for example, two young men rejected by the alternate service commission on the grounds that they did not present their beliefs in a credible manner were sentenced to prison terms of three months and one month, respectively.<ref name=":0" />

Conscripts may attain the rank of private first class by the completion of initial training.<ref name=":0" /> Those with leadership potential may serve a longer period to obtain noncommissioned officer (NCO) status in the militia.<ref name=":0" /> Those volunteering for the career service can, after three to four years, apply to attend the NCO academy and later a senior NCO course to qualify as warrant officers.<ref name=":0" /> Both regular and militia officer candidates undergo a one-year program of basic training.<ref name=":0" /> After a further three years, regular officer candidates attending the military academy at Wiener Neustadt and militia officer candidates undergoing periodic intensified refresher training qualify as second lieutenants.<ref name=":0" /> The reserve obligation of conscripts generally ends by the time they reach their mid-thirties; NCOs and officers usually end their reserve status at a later age depending on their rank and specialization.<ref name=":0" /> By the early 1990s, some 1.3 million men had completed their initial service and refresher training obligations and had no further active-duty commitment.<ref name=":0" />

The military personnel system is an integral part of a comprehensive civil service system.<ref name=":0" /> The nine officer ranks from officer candidate through general correspond to grades I through IX of the civil service system.<ref name=":0" /> The highest grade, IX, may be occupied by a section chief (undersecretary), a career ambassador, or a three-star general.<ref name=":0" /> A grade VIII position may be held by a departmental counselor, a career minister, or a brigadier general.<ref name=":0" /> Salary levels are the same for both civil and military personnel in the equivalent grades, although various allowances may be added, such as flight pay or hazardous-duty pay.<ref name=":0" />

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The system of promotion in the Austrian military, which offers no incentive for early retirement, means that the military is top-heavy with senior officers.<ref name=":0" /> The New Army Structure, which is intended to result in many fewer active-duty and reserve commands, compounds the difficulty.<ref name=":0" /> Personnel changes can be implemented only gradually, as the surplus of officers shrinks by attrition.<ref name=":0" /> In 1991, the army had four officers of general rank, fifty-nine at the rank of brigadier general (one star), 155 colonels, and 254 lieutenant colonels.<ref name=":0" /> The education of career officers is conducted at the Maria Theresia Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt, forty-five kilometres south of Vienna, which was founded in 1752.<ref name=":0" /> Young men who have completed their university entrance requirements are eligible to compete for places.<ref name=":0" /> The three-year course graduated 212 students in 1990.<ref name=":0" /> At the National Defence Academy in Vienna, which has a curriculum comparable to those of the National Defence University and the Army War College in the United States, operational and troop commanders of field-grade rank study for three years in preparation for general staff and command positions.<ref name=":0" /> The NCO school is located at Enns near Linz.<ref name=":0" /> Troop schools provide continuous specialized courses for officers and NCOs in artillery, air defence, armour, combat engineering, communications, and the like.<ref name=":0" />

In 1998 the Austrian government approved women's membership in the Austrian Armed Forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=B. |title=The Statesman's Yearbook 2001: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World |date=29 December 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-27129-6 |page=907 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=003ODQAAQBAJ&pg=PA907 |language=en}}</ref> All service branches are open for female volunteers.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} In a public opinion survey in 1988, about 66 percent of those polled approved of opening the military to voluntary service by women; only nine percent favoured obligatory service.<ref name=":0" />