Soviet Union, is a long-standing friend and is held in high
esteem. Greece and Turkey, the countries that the men are taught to
expect to fight, are traditional enemies; so also is Yugoslavia.

In addition to being obligatory, military service is nearly universal,
and it is difficult to evade. Service life is extolled in the media, and
no widespread criticism, either of the forces as a whole or of
individuals as servicemen, is aired. Military experience provides
vocational training, much of which is beneficial to the individual and
to the national economy.

Special social benefits are available to the forces' personnel. If their
service results in unusual hardships for their dependents, the families
are given extra consideration. Monthly benefit payments to wives or
parents experiencing financial problems exceed those to nonmilitary
families by 30 percent. Wives who remain behind get preferential
treatment for prenatal or child care or while job hunting. As the men
come to the end of their duty tours, they are assisted in their
transition to civilian life, in their search for educational
opportunities, or in job placement. If disabled in the service, a
veteran gets a pension that is more liberal than usual for the same
disability acquired elsewhere and continuing assistance that includes
free transportation on public transport as well as medical treatment and
care of such things as orthopedic apparatus.

Medicine

The medical service provides treatment and preventive medicine for
military personnel and, in certain circumstances, for dependents and for
persons employed by the military. Its services are also available to the
public at large during individual emergencies, if they are the most
immediately available, and on a larger scale during epidemics or natural
disasters. Military personnel may also avail themselves of emergency
facilities in nonmilitary hospitals or clinics.

Since about 1960 the medical service has been upgraded in several major
respects. That year saw the formation of a higher military medical
institute, located on the site of the army's general hospital, for
advanced, specialized training of physicians. In addition to providing
better training for military doctors, the objective was to establish a
research center for in-depth study of the special military aspects of
medical science. A more pragmatic objective was to initiate long-overdue
improvement in medical services for the armed forces. I