Soldiers who have deteriorated their surviving conditions as a consequence of a natural disaster may request help. This applies, for example, to those military property suffered as a consequence of floods in south-western Poland that have lasted for respective days. Support may be granted by the unit commander or national defence minister.
This will aid to supply financial support to soldiers who are in a hard situation, due, for example, to a long-term illness or death of a household member, and to another random event causing a crucial deterioration of material conditions. This kind of assistance can besides be sought by those military who have suffered from a natural disaster, e.g. their home was destroyed by fire or flood. With the second in respective days with the services, the inhabitants of south-western Poland are fighting. As many soldiers may besides be present among the victims, representatives of the Ministry of Defence remind that, in accordance with the provisions of, among others, the Law on Defence of the Homeland, specified military personnel may apply for financial support. “They have the right to apply for assistance both to the commander of their military unit and to the Minister of National Defence,” the representatives of the Ministry inform.
In the first case, a soldier should check in his unit what papers he should file. The final amount of the benefit will depend, among another things, on the expenses incurred in connection with the event, as well as on the material situation of the soldier and his family.
In the case of an application for assistance to the Minister of National Defence, the applicant must describe the full situation and include respective documents, e.g. a certificate of his wage (including additives), a message of the number of people with whom the soldier runs the household (in the case of children, his age and information on whether they learn or study), as well as information on the incomes of the closest household members (e.g. a certificate from the employer, decisions on pension benefits).
In addition, a soldier must file papers confirming that he owns a house, flat or movable property destroyed by flooding (e.g. deed of ownership of the house, acquisition contract, extract from the land register) or that he resides in the property (e.g. certificate of registration). It is besides essential to confirm that house, apartment, car or household appliances have been destroyed. specified a paper may be a service protocol, a local authority certificate or a cost estimation of the renovation.
A soldier applying for assistance must besides supply data on the insurance of immovable property or movable property, as well as make a message of the usage or intention of another forms of financial support. For example, it is about monetary assistance from the commander of a military unit, a municipality or a non-governmental organization.
Soldiers who have been injured by floods may send requests for assistance to the national defence minister straight to the following address: Department of Social Affairs, al. independency 218, 00-911 Warsaw. The proposal does not request to be sent by service.
Importantly, non-professional soldiers, including territorial defence troops, have the right to apply for assistance, both to the commander of the unit and to the national defence minister. The procedure for submitting applications in their situation is akin to that of professional soldiers.
In fresh years, among the most common reasons for applying for assistance were: long-term illness of a professional soldier or a associate of his household (mainly children) and associated advanced costs of treatment or urgent rehabilitation and random events (e.g. fire, communication accident).
In 2023, MON allocated over PLN 20 million to the aid.
