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Approximately 7,000 Polish soldiers will have left the army by the end of 2011 with over 5,700 of them doing so voluntarily, reported Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said that, “In the last decade, we haven't had this many soldiers leave,” adding that “this will be a problem for the military.” He said he thought soldiers were leaving the army in such numbers because of social reasons and wages.

The ministry had expected that around 3,000 soldiers would leave the army this year, and made its budget forecasts based on that number.

Now, however, the ministry will have to allot an extra zł.440 million in benefits because of the unexpectedly high number of soldiers who are ending their military careers.

The ministry had hoped that increasing army wages by zł.300 per month in mid-2012 would have incentivized more soldiers to stay on.

Poland A.M.