Soldiers of this new company, serving on the basis of a voluntary non-permanent military service contract, will lead a normal civilian and work life and will put their military uniforms on only on weekends and during the training of the army's active reserve, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
Lieutenant Colonel Elvinas Serva, commander of the engineer battalion, says the reserve engineer company model that is being developed within the battalion is the first of its kind in the battalion's history.
The idea is to get as many civilians as possible involved in the country's defense, to improve the training of the active reserve and to find the most appropriate solution to effectively support the Light Infantry Brigade Aukstaitija during combat support tasks.
Up until now, a "joint squad" would be formed for active army reserve training within the battalion, consisting of soldiers from the battalion's different companies and they would work alongside troops from the active reserve and perform their direct duties at the same time.
Under the new model, the new company's management is handed over to professional troops, and all other duties are assigned to soldiers called up for voluntary non-permanent military service and troops from the active army reserve.
The new company's key task is to carry out engineering tasks and to provide support to the assigned unit: to perform engineer reconnaissance and marking of barriers, water obstacles, bridges, roads, as well as areas contaminated with explosive remnants of war, as well as to install various engineering obstacles, barriers, fortifications, etc.