Minister Shashkin unveils the MOD's "3 T's"

The Georgian Defense Ministry presented a new "3T concept" which entails Minister Dimitry Shashkin’s view on 2012- 2013. The 3T concept is based on 3 main points: “total care”, “total trainings” and “total defense”.

According to Minister Shashkin, total care envisages the improved healthcare insurance package for militaries as well as their families. In the case of agreement of mandatory military service, the MOD is ready to fund various educational programs for members of the military and also provide a number of educational privileges to their children. Military servants will have special discounts on public and municipal transportation and banking privileges. In particular, they will receive a low interest rate on loans and mortgage loans, as well as interest-free installment on home appliances.

"Total trainings" envisages the improvement of the level of the army’s combat capabilities through the improvement of professionalism for each military servant and civilian.

Clarification on "total defense" however was limited and was described only as pertaining to the “enhancement of the country’s defense capabilities, as well as the enhancement and development of the defense reserve system."

Teona Akubardia, a member of the civil council for security and defense, calls the MOD’s initiative part of a PR campaign. “There are no real means to implement this "3T" concept and the document itself it prepared in a very unqualified way,” said Akubardia.

Military analyst Giorgi Melitauri opines that the minister’s view in this case is more concept than a guiding document. “For comparison, I can bring as an example Bacho Akhalaia’s 2010 view, which was quite a comprehensive document with clearly written terminology. However, it was not properly implemented,” said Melitauri.

Civil society representatives as well as military analysts think that the term “total defense” should be clarified more comprehensively, as it remains very ambiguous on paper.