In February, March and April, the Defence Staff analysed the conduct of the first series of recruitment-selection of professional soldiers this year, a process consisting mainly of the registration and selection of candidates (preparation of files, physical, psychological and medical evaluations), and the assignment of admitted candidates to units.

The general finding was that most of the candidates failed to pass the physical evaluation, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) said in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Monday.

The main data of the analysis conducted by the Defence Staff are as follows:

*the recruitment and selection campaign took place in 41 counties and in Bucharest;

*number of places put opened for competition: 5,093;

*number of candidates: 6,448 (of which girls: 20%);

* interest rate (ratio between the number of candidates and the number of places offered): 1,3;

*proportion of candidates rejected in the physical fitness assessment (first test): 24%;

*proportion of candidates rejected in the psychological assessment (candidates retained after the physical test): 18%;

*proportion of candidates rejected in the medical evaluation (candidates retained after the psychological evaluation): 12%;

*number of candidates admitted: 2.626;

*admission rate (proportion of selected candidates out of total candidates enrolled): 40%.

„The general finding was that most of the candidates failed the physical assessment (with emphasis on the fact that it was the first test of the recruitment-selection process). The level of difficulty of the test is considered to be medium (2,000 m endurance run). A person aged between 18 and 45 years old, with a normal physical development should not have major difficulties to pass the minimum mandatory physical standards of this evaluation,” says MApN.

On the other hand, MApN considers that the positive value of young people’ interest in the national defence institution indicates that the general objective of increasing the number of soldiers in the Romanian Army is achievable.

AGERPRES