feelers have been put out to arrange
other such conferences. A ranking military spokesman has stated that the
army was developing friendly relations with its counterparts in all the
countries of the socialist system in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He
added that Romania is increasing its relations of cooperation and
collaboration with the nonsocialist states, as a contribution to the
development of mutual trust.

MANPOWER, TRAINING, AND SUPPORT

Manpower

There are approximately 4.86 million men in the military age group, that
is, the male population between the ages of eighteen and forty-nine.
About 3.4 million--70 percent--are considered physically and otherwise
fit for military service (see ch. 3).

A somewhat larger percentage, however, of the 180,000 young men who
reach the draft age annually are physically able to serve. The
preponderance of armed forces and most security troop personnel are
acquired during the annual draft calls. Because of the short duty tours
required of conscripts, it was necessary in 1971 to call up most of the
eligible group in order to maintain the forces' strengths.

Men released from active duty, whether they served voluntarily or
involuntarily, remain subject to recall until the age of fifty. Although
nearly 100,000 men have been released from the services each year since
about 1950, only a small portion of them are considered trained
reserves. Only those recently discharged could be mobilized quickly and
go into action without extensive retraining. There is insufficient
emphasis on periodic reserve training to keep many of the older men in
satisfactory physical condition or up to date on new weapons and
tactics.

Young men of draft age are potentially good soldier material. There is
almost no illiteracy within the adult population under fifty-five years
of age. A large percentage of conscripts have rural, village, or small
city backgrounds and are in better physical condition than the average
urban youth. On the minus side, because the country has a low standard
of living, conscripts have little familiarity with mechanical and
electronic equipment.

Based on the numbers of males in lower age groups, the size of the
annual military manpower pool will remain at about 1971 levels
throughout the 1970s. It will then drop by nearly 25 percent during the
first half of the 1980s but will rise sharply--and again temporarily--in
the latter half of that decade. With the exception of