Voluntary Recruitment

one of the methods of manning and replenishing armed forces, based on the enlistment of volunteers in the armed services. Voluntary recruitment has existed since ancient times in many states. It has occurred especially widely in wars that were of a just character and evoked an upsurge of patriotism. In the USSR, the principle of voluntary recruitment was established by V. I. Lenin as the basis of the formation of the Red Army and Navy in January 1918. With the transition in May 1918 to the manning of the Red Army by conscription, voluntary recruitment was preserved, but it began to play a subsidiary role. Since January 1972 active servicemen and reservists without officers’ rank have been accepted for military service in the Soviet armed forces on a voluntary basis as noncommissioned and warrant officers. The hiring (recruitment) of volunteers has been preserved in many armies abroad in addition to recruitment on the basis of a military obligation; in some countries (for example, in Great Britain since 1967) the armed forces are manned only through the recruitment of volunteers.