– 2025 will certainly be a breakthrough year regarding soldiers’ individual equipment […] we have finished the matter of steel helmet replacements […] but what we found a year ago, when we took office in Poland, was a desperate picture. Basic items were missing in Polish Army units, such as field uniforms, such as sleeping mats […] the shortages were gigantic – said Cezary Tomczyk during a Sejm session.

Soldiers Without Raincoats and Winter Jackets

– At the border […] for two years of operation of thousands of soldiers, it wasn't thought of to provide soldiers with raincoats. […] A soldier who stood on duty at the border in Podlasie at -20 degrees Celsius did not have a winter jacket. […] What did a soldier have instead of a winter jacket? Fleece and so-called ‘ceratex’ […] it was the soldiers who invented this name, and it accurately reflects the quality of this material – continued the Deputy Minister of National Defence.

– One of Antoni Macierewicz’s first decisions when he took office as Minister of National Defence […] was the sabotage of the Polish Army, which consisted of abandoning the purchase of uniforms for the Polish Army – he continued.

Suspension and Annulment of Procedures

– On May 9, 2016, the head of the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, on the verbal order of the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Defence, Mr. Bartłomiej Grabski, who was a member of Antoni Macierewicz’s leadership, ordered the suspension and annulment of all public procurement procedures for the supply of uniforms for the Polish Army, included in the material procurement plan for 2016-2022 and the material procurement plan for 2016 – added Tomczyk.

– Procedures for tenders for 40 assortment items with an estimated value of nearly a quarter of a billion zlotys were annulled and abandoned […] The Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, despite having funds for uniform purchases in 2016 and 2017, did not receive approval from the Ministry of National Defence leadership for the purchase of field uniforms – he added.

“Soldiers Would Have to Participate in Armed Conflict in Tracksuits”

– We are two years after 2016, after the annexation of Crimea. If, God forbid, an armed conflict had occurred then, to put it bluntly, Polish Army soldiers would have had to participate in armed conflict in tracksuits – emphasized the Deputy head of the Ministry of National Defence.