Military of Switzerland - Structure

Structure

Further information: Military ranks of the Swiss Armed Forces
Swiss Army brigades
Source: http://www.vtg.admin.ch/internet/vtg/de/home.html
Swiss Air Force airbases

The armed forces consist of 134,886 people on active duty (in Switzerland called Angehöriger der Armee, shortly AdA, engl.: Member of the Army), of which 4,230 are professionals, with the rest being conscripts or volunteers. Women, for whom military service is voluntary, numbered 1,050: less than 1% of the total, but 25% of career soldiers. Once decided to serve, they have the same rights and duties as their male colleagues, and they can join all services, including combat units. Recruits are generally instructed in their native language; however, the small number of Romansh-speaking recruits are instructed in German.

In contrast to most other comparable armies, officer candidates are usually not career regulars: after seven weeks of basic training, selected recruits are offered the possibility of a cadre function. Officer candidate schools take place separately from NCOs training, but NCOs have the possibility of becoming officers later on. There are currently 17,506 officers and 22,650 NCOs in the Swiss Armed Forces.

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