As many as 3,500 young Polish citizens joined the first part of military training called “Holidays with the Army” (in Polish: “Wakacje z wojskiem”), which started last week across more than 30 army units. The participants are going to obtain basic military training during the vacation season.

More than 11,000 people applied to participate in three training cycles scheduled for the summer, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP) daily states.

According to the report published on Tuesday, Major Renata Mycio, spokesperson for Poland’s Central Military Recruitment Centre, said: “Given that this is a program aimed exclusively at 18- to 35-year-olds, the interest is really high.”

The initiative resembles basic military training. It includes survival exercises, military tactics, and operating military vehicles. The participants wear uniforms and carry firearms.

The project aims to attract young people who will come in contact with military units, take the oath, become military reservists, and potentially choose the armed forces as their career, DGP wrote.

The majority of the participants attracted by the program are men, the defense ministry told the newspaper. The estimated percentage of women enrolled in the training is 20–25.