| | | |
| | Air and |
Ground Forces Naval Forces | Air Defense Frontier Troops
| Forces
|
------------------------+---------------------
| | |
Bucharest Garrison Cluj Military Region Iasi Military Region

_Figure 10. Romania, Organization of the Armed Forces, 1972._]

All commanders and force personnel subordinate to the minister are part
of the regular military establishment, although appointments to the
higher commands may be determined in varying degrees by political
considerations. The minister is a political appointee but, whether or
not he has had a military background, he assumes a senior military rank.
The Romanian practice deviates from the usual in such situations,
however, where the minister is expected to have an actual or honorary
rank superior to any officer in his forces. The minister of the armed
forces in 1971, for example, was appointed in 1966. He was promoted from
colonel general to army general after about four years in his position
and, during the early period, was technically subordinate in rank to an
army general who commanded the General Military Academy in Bucharest.

In 1972 there were about 200,000 men in the regular forces. About 75
percent were in ground force or in support units common to all services.
About 5 percent were naval; 10 percent, air force; and the remainder,
frontier troops. The air force percentage included air defense forces.

When the mission of the armed forces is being described in relation to
the Warsaw Pact, it is pointed out that the forces are structured and
trained for major operations in concert with their allies against a
common enemy. Because organized Romanian forces have not been involved
in a major conflict except as junior partners in an alliance force, this
experience makes the concept of participation in the Warsaw Pact mission
easy to accept. Since about 1960, however, leaders have expressed
ambitions to act somewhat independently of the Warsaw Pact. In this
context the pact mission is occasionally downgraded or passed over in
nonspecific terms. The forces' mission is then described as defense of
the country only, and their use is said to be allowable only to resist
aggression against Romania.

Ground Forc