No one said anything about dismissals!

"Inaccurate" was the word used by Minister Venizelos in reference to articles that emerged today in the press, where it is mentioned that the Pentagon is considering the dismissal of 20,000 career military personnel in order to cut costs

According to the leaks, the Ministry of Defence is considering not renewing the contracts of 15,000 professional soldiers which is not dismissals per se, but cutting down on staff that were on contract and not permanent.

"The new structure of our forces, according to the new law, is a complicated task of radical modernization in the Armed Forces" said the Minister, supporting that "this is happening in a systematic and persistent manner and we will be announcing the results soon".

Trying to pacify the professional soldiers, Mr. Venizelos said that "everything that you hear in the news should be taken with a pinch of salt, unless the Ministry confirms". However, he did not deny the cuts; therefore it is most probable that there will be a reduction of staff after all.

That is going to be very difficult for people that chose the Armed Forces as an answer to unemployment. At the moment staff reaches 93,000 and the governement would like to cut that by 20,000. Indeed, the Ministry didn't say anything about dismissals but maybe they didn't need to say anything..it was a message between the lines.