Seventy-two women aged 20 to 26 have reported to the War Material Training Center in Lamia as the Hellenic Army inducted its first cohort of female volunteers.
It's a 12-month service program that forms part of the military's "Agenda 2030" modernization drive and targets up to 200 female enlistees by year-end.
Hellenic Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis inspected the induction and addressed the recruits.
The program offers practical incentives: the year of service counts as professional work experience and earns additional points in Greece's civil service recruitment system.
University graduates who complete service gain preferential hiring status within state defence administration and immediate access to military health and retail facilities.
The recruits are scheduled to take their formal oath on June 26 in Lamia. Defence Minister Nikos Dendias is confirmed to attend, with government sources indicating Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis may also be present.
The induction is the most visible step yet in Greece's Agenda 2030 defence modernisation plan, which has also produced this year the €1.35 billion Project Trident shipbuilding pact with the United States and South Korea, the deployment of the frigate Psara to the Red Sea under the EU's Aspides mission, and a sustained increase in defence spending to over 3 percent of GDP — among the highest in NATO.