"Focus on recruitment, not bureaucratization": military officials express their views on the proposal to disband the Territorial Defense Centers.

The idea of disbanding the TCK has been under discussion for the third day now. The temporary investigative commission (VSK) of the Verkhovna Rada has concluded that it is necessary to create recruitment centers instead of military enlistment offices. Not all members of parliament support this initiative. In particular, the secretary of the Rada's national security committee, Roman Kostenko, believes that without the TCK, mobilization will come to a halt. Military expert, retired Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleg Zhdanov shares this view. According to him, military enlistment offices only require reform, not disbandment. If military enlistment offices are dissolved today, tomorrow soldiers on the front lines will go home as there will be no one to staff the army.

However, military personnel see more advantages than disadvantages in the disbandment of the TCK.

As stated by serviceman Stanislav Bunyatov with the call sign "Osman," in this case, war veterans currently working in military enlistment offices would transition to roles as instructors in training centers, significantly enhancing the combat effectiveness of soldiers.

Ukrainian serviceman Daniil Yakovlev believes that the TCK and SP need to be reformed into a different format.

He suggests that the military aspect should be removed from military enlistment offices and everything should be transitioned to regular CPAUs.

Currently, the TCK is managed by majors, lieutenant colonels, colonels, and similar ranks. Most of them are involved in corruption, making money, and sending combat brigades to the front, according to the military.

"What benefit do they provide? That's a rhetorical question, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be removed. How can an old 50-year-old lieutenant colonel handle proper recruiting if he can't use Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, and doesn't understand what native advertising is? You can see that there's no outdoor advertising about the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and there's no explanation regarding what a person will become in 5-10 years when they join the Armed Forces," Yakovlev continues.

He pointed out that there is no effective management of soldiers and resource allocation. This raises the question: what is the purpose of old warrant officers, as they do not know what thermal imagers are and do not understand the differences between vehicles, and so on.

"We have a thousand amazing volunteers who would handle this task much better than the old logistics veterans. The issue is that the TCK needs to be reformatted for modern recruiting. It's clear that there should be some military personnel involved, but they could be drawn from the pool of demobilized soldiers," the military explained.

Yakovlev is convinced that when a person comes for an interview, they should speak not with those who have never been in combat but with military personnel who have seen the front and understand what war is.

"I'm not even mentioning that the TCK does not fulfill the role of a structure that would specialize in placing people in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; they simply find someone on the street, throw them into a van — and that person then goes somewhere," he added.

It is worth noting that on November 13, Ukrainian politician, public figure, writer, and founder of the "Brotherhood" battalion Dmitry Korchinsky stated that TCK is the most effective way to replenish the army. Their disbandment could slow down the recruitment pace.

On the same day, the public relations officer of the Poltava TCK, Roman Istomin, reported that primarily civilians work in the TCK and SP. This is precisely why it will not be possible to create a combat brigade from them.