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he was beyond the age of fifty he was more than fifty and standing upright he measured about eight feet his face had a golden tan arched brows a pair of bright eyes a regular head form a square mouth a pair of protruding ears and under his chin there were three locks of beard a grizzled beard on his head he wore a sky @@ blue satin scarf and he was dressed in a stately sky @@ blue satin coat with a silken girdle a pair of wide black trousers without crotch and satin boots with thin soles
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heroes and religious masters with above normal height are a recurring theme in chinese folklore for instance his student wu song is said to be over nine feet tall in the same folktale in the story of yue fei the general simultaneously duels with two other warriors vying for first place in a military exam one is nine feet tall and the other is eight feet tall a <unk> of the taoist saint zhang daoling states he was over seven feet tall
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when zhou is vocalized in yangzhou storytelling he speaks in square mouth public talk which is a manner of speaking reserved for martial heroes highly respected characters or sometimes lesser characters that pretend to be an important hero square mouth public talk is actually a mixture of two forms of dialogue <unk> and <unk> <unk> ( square mouth ) is a manner of steady yet forceful over pronunciation of dialogue that was possibly influenced by northern chinese opera <unk> ( public talk ) is monologue and dialogue that is sometimes used for imposing heroes this mixture of styles means zhou tong is treated as a highly regarded hero
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in her analysis of yangzhou storytelling <unk> noted that the aforementioned tale about zhou and wu song uses different forms of dialogue for both characters wu speaks square mouth utilizing standard mandarin without rusheng ( short glottal syllables ) on the contrary zhou speaks <unk> using the yangzhou tone system which does utilize rusheng syllables therefore she believes square mouth dialogue should at least be divided into two subcategories namely the wu song variant without rusheng and the zhou tong variant with rusheng
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= = = students = = =
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= = = = water margin outlaws = = = =
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the water margin ( c 1400 ) is a ming dynasty military romance about one hundred and eight demons @@ born @@ men and women who band together to rebel against the lavish song dynasty government lin chong and lu junyi two of these outlaws are briefly mentioned as being zhou 's previous students in the story of yue fei they are not characters within the main plot though as both are killed by villainous officials prior to zhou becoming precept of the wang household most importantly the two were not among his historical students since they are fictional characters
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zhou 's portrayal as their teacher is connected to a recurring element in chinese fiction where tang and song dynasty heroes train under a celestial master usually a taoist immortal prior to their military exploits ct hsia suggests the mold from which all other similar teachers are cast is <unk> master of the feuding strategists sun bin and pang juan from the yuan dynasty tale latter volume of the spring and autumn annals of the seven kingdoms ( <unk> ) hsia goes on to say that qian cai yue 's fictional biographer associated zhou with the outlaws because most such teachers [ in the military romance genre ] are <unk> with at least two students but in adopting this format qian reversed the traditional pattern of celestial tutelage since zhou is written as a human while his students are reincarnations of demons ( lin and lu ) and the celestial bird garuda ( yue fei )
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although lin and lu have been connected to zhou since the early qing dynasty wu song did not become associated with him until wang shaotang created a 20th @@ century folktale in which the two meet in kaifeng the tale takes place during wu 's mission to kaifeng but before the murder of his older brother wu <unk> zhou teaches wu the rolling dragon style of swordplay during the constable 's one @@ month stay in the capital city this tale was chapter two of wang 's ten chapters on wu song storytelling repertoire which was later transcribed and published in the book wu sung in 1959 it eventually carried over into the storyline of iron arm golden sabre and subsequently the legend of zhou tong in the latter version wu instead learns chuo jiao boxing from zhou during a two month stay in the capital
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wang 's tale portrays zhou as an aging itinerant swordmaster with a fame reverberating like thunder throughout the underworld society of <unk> he is made the sworn brother of the outlaw flowery monk lu zhishen a military officer @@ turned @@ fighting monk who is according to hsia first among the most popular protagonists of the water margin he is also given the nickname iron arm ( <unk> ) which carried over into the title of his fictional biography iron arm golden sabre while the tale fails to explain the reason for the moniker it does mention zhou 's ability to direct his qi to any part of his body to make it hard enough to overpower the iron shirt technique of another martial artist furthermore zhou shares the same nickname with cai fu an executioner @@ turned @@ outlaw known for his ease in wielding a heavy sword
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because of his association with these outlaws zhou is often confused with the similarly named outlaw little conqueror zhou tong in the water margin this zhou tong is a bandit chief of mount peach blossom whom lu zhishen beats for trying to forcibly marry the daughter of the liu family he dies later under the sword of li <unk> an officer in the rebel army of fang la so the connection between both zhou 's is based solely on the romanized transcription of their name
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= = = = yue fei = = = =
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the story of yue fei comments lu junyi is zhou 's last student prior to taking on seven @@ year @@ old yue fei and his three sworn @@ brothers wang gui tang huai ( <unk> ) and zhang xian ( <unk> ) he teaches them literary and military lessons on even and odd days the novel says yue is talented in all manners of literary and military matters and even surpasses the skill of lin and lu after yue acquires his supernatural spear of dripping water zhou tutors all of his students in the eighteen weapons of war but each excels with one in particular yue fei and tang huai the spear zhang xian the hook @@ sickle spear and wang gui the <unk> dao all of them learn the skill of archery in addition some of these and other children are mentioned in yue ke 's memoir as being his grandfather 's historical childhood friends but they are never specified as being zhou 's students
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books written by modern @@ day martial artists make many claims that are not congruent with historical documents or current scholarly thought for instance <unk> yang <unk> @@ ming says zhou was a scholar who studied martial arts in the shaolin monastery and later took yue as his student after the young man worked as a tenant farmer for the official @@ general han qi ( <unk> 1008 1075 ) during this time he learned all types of military weapons horseback riding and hand @@ to @@ hand combat the general later created xingyi and eagle claw boxing from his internal and external training under zhou however history prof meir shahar notes that unarmed boxing styles did not develop at shaolin until the late ming dynasty he also states that ji family memoirs and qing dynasty records suggest xingyi was created hundreds of years after the death of yue by a <unk> named ji <unk> ( fl 1651 ) in addition the appearance of han qi in the story is a chronological anachronism since he died nearly 30 years before yue 's birth yue historically worked as a tenant farmer and bodyguard for descendants of han qi in 1124 after leaving the military upon the death of his father in late 1122 but he learned from zhou well before this time
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eagle claw grandmasters leung shum and lily lau believe <unk> tong ( the cantonese rendering of his name ) was a monk who brought young yue to the shaolin monastery and taught him a set of hand techniques which yue later adapted to create his ying kuen ( eagle fist ) liang <unk> states practitioners of emei <unk> qigong believe yue trained under zhou as a child and competed to become china 's top fighter at an early age their lineage story dictates zhou also took yue to a buddhist hermit who taught him said qigong style northern praying mantis master yuen <unk> says zhou taught yue the same school of martial arts as he did his water margin students and that the general was the originator of the praying mantis technique black tiger <unk> [ sic ] heart although martial arts historian stanley henning admits that yue 's biographies do not mention boxing he says he [ yue ] almost certainly did practice some form of bare handed fighting to prepare for his weapons training but he does not suggest who yue might have learned it from
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= = = martial arts = = =
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there is insufficient historical evidence to support the claim he knew any skills beyond archery contemporary records never once mention zhou teaching yue boxing despite this various wuxia novels and folk legends have attributed many different military and supernatural skills to zhou these range from mastery of the bow double swords and chinese spear to that of <unk> hard qigong chuojiao boxing and even x @@ ray vision wang shaotang 's folktale even represents him as a master of drunken eight immortals boxing
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zhou can also be linked to these combat arts through his historical and folklore students practitioners of eagle claw chuojiao and xingyi commonly include him within their lineage history because of his association with yue fei the supposed progenitor of these styles yuen <unk> believes zhou taught lin chong and lu junyi the same school of martial arts that was later combined with seventeen other schools to create mantis fist this combination of various schools refers to an eighteenth @@ century martial arts manual that describes the gathering of eighteen masters at the shaolin monastery that supposedly took place during the early years of the song dynasty lin chong and yan qing are listed as two of the eighteen masters invited which means their skills of mandarin duck leg and ground fighting are treated as two separate schools instead of one but he believes mantis fist was created during the ming dynasty and was therefore influenced by these eighteen schools from the song he also says lu junyi taught yan qing the same martial arts as he learned from zhou
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very few references are made to the people who supposedly taught martial arts to zhou in the legend of zhou tong he learns as a child from a shaolin master named tan <unk> practitioners of chuojiao claim he learned the style from its creator a wandering taoist named deng liang practitioners of geok gar kuen a style attributed to yue fei believe he studied under han de a chivalrous person from shaanxi
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= = in popular culture = =
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zhou has appeared in various kinds of media including novels comic books and movies apart from the story of yue fei and iron arm golden sabre he appears in a novel based around his older martial arts brother jin tai a recent graphic novel of the story of yue fei deletes all mythological elements from the storyline and presents it in a historical manner instead of traveling from hebei to hubei to inspect land zhou travels from shaanxi to kaifeng city in henan to visit an old friend who had been promoted to general while en route to the capital city zhou takes note of a great famine plaguing the peasantry and even hears stories of some people resorting to cannibalism however when he arrives in kaifeng he sees the empire is wasting money on the construction of large imperial gardens the court officials cai jing and wang pu have extravagant residencies and hears that even eunuchs are rich because they are given high government posts upon locating his friend zhou is distressed to find him in stocks and shackles and being escorted to the farthest reaches of china by imperial guards he later learns that the general had accidentally offended some court officials and was sentenced to permanent exile on some trumped up charges apparently having little or no money zhou decides to visit wang ming in hubei ( mistakenly called hebei ) and becomes the estate 's tutor
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another noticeable difference in the storyline takes place when zhou travels with his teenage disciples to visit his friend the abbot instead of yue wandering behind the temple to battle the magical snake he stays with zhou and the abbot while the other disciples go off to explore zhou watches as the abbot tests yue 's strength by asking him to move an ornate three @@ hundred pound copper stove dating from the han dynasty the abbot then lifts a stone floor tile and presents the boy with a large book on military strategy he goes on to tell yue how he was once a great soldier who fought in campaigns against the liao and western xia empires but became a monk after the song agreed to become a vassal of each state he later made a name for himself by teaching military skills to youths from the surrounding area since he has no heir of his own the abbot presents yue with his own personal spear and instructs him in the proper use of the weapon zhou kindly protests the gift at first but allows yue to keep it out of friendship
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a second graphic novelization drastically changes the storyline involving zhou like the original zhou becomes the tutor of the wang estate but when news of his arrival prompts rich families to send their sons to learn from him he is forced to accept droves of these students on a trial basis he eventually chooses his friends ' sons as his indoor disciples and yue as his godchild years later he takes his now teenage students not to see the buddhist abbot but to teach them military strategy out in the mountain wilderness yue senses trouble after his martial brothers separate to explore the forest and rushes off to rescue them only to be confronted by a monstrous snake after vanquishing the beast with his sword yue discovers a magic glowing spear within a cave and reports back to zhou following their training zhou becomes ill from overexposure to the cold mountain air on the return trip home and dies soon after instead of just yue all of his students live beside his grave for a mourning period of one hundred days before returning home to their families these events take place three years before zhou originally died in the story of yue fei
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stories including zhou have also been used to educate the secondary school system of hong kong teaches children the value of mentorship by making them read about the close teacher @@ pupil relationship between zhou and yue a morale tale called yue fei studies archery in children 's pictorial a chinese magazine tailored for children ages two through seven demonstrates how great achievements are only made possible via diligent practice the story states how young yue stumbles upon zhou 's training hall in a neighboring town while gathering fire wood yue applies to become a student but zhou tells him he must first practice the art of the far @@ sighted person by staring into the morning sun to improve his eyesight after years of unrelenting practice yue is able to spot a lone goose flying off in the distance and two cicadas on a tree far into the forest zhou then officially takes him as his disciple and adopted son under his tutelage yue is able to master the eighteen weapons of war and to shoot a falling leaf from one @@ hundred paces away
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he is mentioned numerous times in author robert <unk> 's thriller deadlock ( 2009 ) zhou is first featured in chapter eight during a conversation between the main character john hutch hutchinson a journalist bent on stopping the maniacal plans of a billionaire madman and his friend 's young son dillon an archery enthusiast when hutch asks him if he had ever heard of the archery @@ champion @@ turned @@ actor howard hill dillon replies i don 't think so you told me about zhou tong hutch then says oh yeah zhou tong was something taught the song dynasty to be the best military archers in history but howard hill [ was the best ] later in chapter fifty while hutch is trailing a killer through an airport a page goes out over the intercom system for a mr zhou tong when the page goes out again hutch muses zhou tong had been a famous archery teacher and military arts tutor in the song dynasty [ dillon and i ] had long telephone conversations about him because of tong 's blending of archery skills and self @@ discipline he was an inspiration to [ me ] dillon had sensed that and wanted to known everything about him he finally realizes that the page had to have been left by dillon 's mother laura to catch his attention the page is sent to warn him of a trap but hutch receives it too late
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screen actors who have portrayed zhou in film 's from the 1940s and 1960s include wong sau nin li ming and jing ci bo jing starred alongside a ten @@ year @@ old sammo hung who played young yue fei veteran martial arts actor yu <unk> who played the sword @@ wielding antagonist in jet li 's shaolin temple stated in a 2005 newspaper interview that he never shaved his trademark beard even at the request of movie producers because he wanted to portray zhou in a future film he went on to say he is an outstandingly able person from the northern and southern song dynasties and many water margin heroes are his disciples this person is very important in the martial arts and many people want to portray him in films
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= romanian land forces =
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the romanian land forces ( romanian <unk> <unk> române ) is the army of romania and the main component of the romanian armed forces in recent years full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force
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the romanian land forces were founded on 24 november [ os 12 november ] 1859 they participated in world war i together with the russian empire forces in actions against the central powers and despite initial setbacks won the decisive battles of mărăşti and mărăşeşti during most of world war ii ( until august 23 1944 ) romanian forces supported the axis powers fighting against the soviet union on the eastern front from august 1944 until the end of the war romania fought against germany under the control of the soviet union when the communists seized power after the second world war the army underwent reorganisation and <unk>
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following the romanian revolution due to shortage of funds many units were disbanded and much equipment was phased out likewise romanian military capability declined because of a lack of fuel as well as training however since the late 1990s a number of positive changes have come about and the level of combat readiness is growing greatly since 1996 the military budget has grown more than four times rising from 636 million dollars to 2 @@ 8 billion dollars in 2007 conscription has been abolished and professionalisation has been completed
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= = mission = =
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the land forces represent the most important component of the romanian armed forces and they are <unk> for execution of various military actions with terrestrial or <unk> character in any zone or direction
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the land forces must independently or together with other romanian military branches conduct operations and defensive or offensive battles for capture or destruction of the invading enemy being part of national or multinational military structures
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a part of the units which compose the current operational structure of the land forces must be able to conduct military operations outside the national territory together with the international military forces
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= = history = =
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the first attempt to create an independent romanian army was made by gheorghe magheru during the 1848 wallachian revolution and it was based at <unk> ( now part of râmnicu vâlcea ) however magheru rapidly ordered his troops to disband when the ottoman forces swept into bucharest to stop the revolution
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= = = romanian war of independence = = =
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the current romanian land forces were formed in 1859 immediately after the unification of wallachia with moldavia and were commanded by alexandru ioan cuza domnitor of romania until his abdication in 1866 in 1877 at the request of nikolai konstantinovich grand duke of russia the romanian army fused with the russian forces and led by king carol i fought in what was to become the romanian war of independence they participated in the siege of plevna and several other battles the romanians won the war but suffered about 27 @@ 000 casualties until world war i the romanian army didn 't face any other serious actions
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= = = second balkan war = = =
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the romanian army entered the second balkan war against bulgaria allowing romania to annex southern dobruja ( also known as the <unk> ) although some 330 @@ 000 troops were mobilised the romanians met little resistance in bulgaria and as such this is not considered a major conflict in romanian history this was due to historical claims on land this area no longer belongs to romania
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= = = world war i = = =
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on july 6 1916 romania declared war on germany and austria @@ hungary following the initial success of the brusilov offensive ( a major russian offensive against the armies of the central powers on the eastern front ) the romanian armies entered transylvania ( then part of the austro @@ hungarian empire ) together with russian forces however german forces under the command of general erich von falkenhayn stalled the attack in november 1916 and drove back the romanians at the same time austrian and turkish troops invaded southern romania forcing the country into a two @@ front war the central powers drove deep into romania and conquered the south of the country ( wallachia including bucharest ) by the end of 1916 the romanian forces led by marshal constantin prezan retreated into the north @@ east part of romania ( moldavia ) in the summer of 1917 however prezan aided by the future marshal general ion antonescu successfully defended the remaining unoccupied territories against german and austro @@ hungarian forces led by field marshal august von mackensen general alexandru averescu led the second army in the victories of the battle of mărăşti ( july 22 to august 1 1917 ) and the battle of mărăşeşti ( august 6 to september 8 1917 ) as a result of the russian revolution romania was left isolated and unable to continue the war and was forced to sign the treaty of bucharest with the central powers later on in 1919 germany agreed in the treaty of versailles article 259 to renounce all the benefits provided to it by the treaty of bucharest in 1918 after the successful offensive on the thessaloniki front which put bulgaria out of the war romania re @@ entered the war on november 10 1918 a day before its end in the west
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= = = hungarian @@ romanian war of 1919 = = =
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after world war i transylvania proclaimed union with the kingdom of romania as a result in april 1919 the newly established hungarian soviet republic vowed to retake the region by force and hungarian troops attacked romanian formations in transylvania the romanian army defeated the hungarians and conquered budapest in august 1919
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from 1921 to 1939 in transylvania inspectorate general of army no 3 had subordinate the 6th and 7th army corps by 1 april 1921 when he disbanded forces western command to order 6th army corps ( and earlier structures ) have been generals prezan constantin constantin <unk> traian <unk> <unk> george nicholas and arthur <unk> et al after 1 april 1921 to 23 march 1939 c 6 a was commissioned by general nicholas petal <unk> pop <unk> alexander john prodan <unk> dumitru gheorghe florescu and christie doe prominent military leaders whom octavian goga wrote that in the interwar period in cluj in transylvania commanders have made a large @@ scale opera and unanimous praise three divisions were part of 6th army corps 16th ( dej ) 17th ( oradea ) and 20th infantry divisions ( <unk> @@ mureş ) with rapid and marked worsening international situation especially in neighboring romania on 22 september 1939 the 4th army recently founded became army group command no 1 of transylvania
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= = = world war ii = = =
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after general ( later marshal ) ion antonescu took power in september 1940 romania signed the tripartite pact with the axis powers and subsequently took part in operation barbarossa in 1941 an expeditionary force invaded the soviet union in bessarabia and southern ukraine alongside the german wehrmacht the expeditionary force ' army group antonescu ' was composed on 22 june 1941 of the 3rd army the 4th army the 2nd army corps and the 11th infantry division the 3rd army comprised the 4th army corps ( 6th and 7th infantry divisions ) the cavalry corps the mountain corps two separate artillery battalion a ta unit and the air force 's 3rd army cooperation command the 4th army consisted of the 3rd army corps the 5th army corps the 11th army corps ( two fortress brigades ) and the 4th army cooperation command the army group @@ level 2nd army corps under major general n <unk> controlled the 9th and 10th infantry divisions and the 7th cavalry brigade additionally the 1st armoured division was formed for service on the eastern front the army group 's first offensive in conjunction with the eleventh army operation <unk> enabled romania to retake the territory immediately east of the <unk> former part of moldavia the romanian armies saw their first major battles at odessa and sevastopol and in 1942 advanced with other axis forces deeper into soviet territory during operation blue
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the greatest disaster for the romanian expeditionary force on the eastern front came at stalingrad where during the soviet counter @@ offensive of november 1942 the thinly spread forces of the third army ( deployed north of stalingrad ) and of the fourth army ( deployed south of stalingrad ) were attacked by vastly superior soviet forces and suffered combined losses of some 158 @@ 000 personnel
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during april may 1944 the romanian forces led by general mihai <unk> together with elements of the german eighth army were responsible for defending northern romania during the soviet first jassy @@ kishinev offensive and took part in the battles of târgu frumos in late august 1944 the red army entered eastern romania on august 23 1944 a coup led by king michael i of romania deposed marshal antonescu and set up a pro @@ soviet government it has been estimated that the royal coup shortened the war for romania by six months romania soon declared war on nazi germany and the first and fourth armies were pressed into action after the expelling of the last wehrmacht remnants from romania the romanian armies took part in the siege of budapest and the prague offensive of may 1945
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= = = cold war = = =
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the soviet occupation of romania led to a complete reorganisation of the romanian land forces under the supervision of the red army at the onset pro @@ german elements were purged from the romanian armed forces in 1944 45 two divisions were formed out of romanian volunteers ex @@ prisoners of war trained and indoctrinated in the soviet union during the war but also of many communist activists one was the tudor vladimirescu first volunteer division under the command of colonel nicolae <unk> and the other the horia <unk> şi <unk> division under the command of general mihail lascăr ( who later served as minister of defence from 1946 to 1947 ) these two units formed the nucleus of the new romanian land forces under soviet control the postwar reorganisation of the land forces included cavalry but the arm disappeared from the force with the disbandment in november 1954 of the 59th cavalry division at oradea
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after the romanian communist party seized political power the <unk> of the army commenced under the supervision of the new minister of defence emil <unk> thirty per cent of the officers and noncommissioned officers ( mostly experienced soldiers and a potential source of opposition ) were purged from the military this involved copying the soviet model of military and political organisation and changing the military doctrine of combat and defence also in the context of romania 's integration in the strategic system of the soviets at the beginning of the cold war
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in the early 1950s the <unk> reached a level of 12 rifle one mechanised and one tank division between 1960 and 1964 the rifle and mechanised divisions were converted to motor rifle divisions and reductions in strength began force size dropped to six motor rifle and two tank divisions by 1970 from 1970 to 1976 three more motor rifle divisions were formed but one was deactivated in 1977 and the eight motor rifle and three tank division figure remained that way for the rest of the cold war
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from 1947 to 1960 the country seems to have been divided into three major military regions cluj bacău and bucharest in the west east and south respectively in wartime the land forces in each military region would become an army corps with their headquarters in cluj @@ napoca iaşi and bucharest armies seem to have succeeded military regions in 1960 and three armies seem to have become four in 1980 what is known is that on 01 @@ 07 @@ 1947 fourth army became 3rd military region based in cluj the 3rd military region became the 3rd army on 30 april 1960 and the 4th army on 5 april 1980
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during the 1980s the land forces numbered 140 @@ 000 personnel of whom two thirds were conscripts in 1989 four armies appeared to exist the first army at bucharest second army at <unk> third army at craiova and fourth army at napoca in 1989 the land forces consisted of eight mechanised ( infantry ) divisions ( 1st bucharest 2nd craiova 9th <unk> 10th iași 11th oradea 18th timişoara 67th and 81st <unk> mureş ) two tank divisions ( the 57th tank division at bucharest and the 6th tank division at <unk> mureş ) four mountain infantry brigades and three airborne brigades according to the 165 @@ year ' history of modern romanian artillery ' in 1989 the 1st army consisted of the 1st mech div 57th tank div and the 2nd mountain brigade the 2nd army of the 9th mech div 10th mech div 67th mech div and 32nd <unk> rocket bde the 3rd army of the 2nd mech div 18th mech div and the 4th mountain bde and the 4th army of the 11th mech div 81st mech div 6th tank div 1st mountain bde 5th mountain bde and 37th tactical missile brigade
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motorised rifle divisions were organized along the soviet model with three motorised rifle regiments one tank regiment and a full complement of 12 @@ 000 infantry soldiers the artillery antitank and air defence regiments of divisions provided specialised fire support that enabled motorised rifle and tank regiments to maneuver the air defense regiments consisted of two anti @@ aircraft artillery battalions and one surface @@ to @@ air missile ( sam ) battalion each composed of several batteries in the late 1980s the artillery regiments of motorised rifle and tank divisions included two artillery battalions one multiple rocket launcher battalion and one surface @@ to @@ surface missile battalion
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surface @@ to @@ surface missile battalions were divided into three or four batteries each equipped with one missile launcher they operated thirty frog @@ 3 and eighteen scud missile launchers the frog @@ 3 a tactical missile first introduced in 1960 was being replaced in other non @@ soviet warsaw pact armies proven to be fairly inaccurate in combat frog and scud missiles would be ineffective weapons carrying conventional high @@ explosive warheads tipped with nuclear or chemical warheads however they could be devastating according to one former romanian official writing in 1988 romania produced chemical agents that could be delivered by battlefield missiles
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= = = post @@ communist era = = =
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during the early 1990s some major units were disbanded and a lot of equipment was phased out or scrapped due to a severe shortage of funds the whole land forces structure was reorganized from armies into territorial corps and from regiments into battalions in the mid @@ 1990s the situation of the land forces was critical the military budget was three times lower than in 1989 ( 636 million dollars ) 50 of the equipment was older than 30 years and 60 of the armoured vehicles and 85 of the missile units were non @@ operational due to lack of fuel and training the level of combat readiness and military capability was extremely low ( only about 30 of the entire land forces were operational ) however after 1996 the government took serious action the military budget was increased greatly and modernisation of equipment commenced officially the program to modernize and restructure the armed forces began on 11 april 2000
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= = present organisation = =
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= = = manpower = = =
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in 2005 the army comprised eight combat four combat support and two logistic brigades while ten combat five combat support and two logistic brigades could be further mobilised in case of crisis many of these units have been restructured however as part of the 2007 force plan
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currently about 75 @@ 000 military personnel and 15 @@ 000 civilians comprise the armed forces for a total of 90 @@ 000 men and women out of these 75 @@ 000 <unk> 43 @@ 000 are in the land forces
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= = = modernisation = = =
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