Defense Ministry spokesman Andrej Čírtek said the high number of applicants had given the Army, like an "elite university," the luxury of choosing whom to accept and turn down. "About 30 percent, for example, are unable to do the four pull-ups required in our physical exam," he said. "Since we can choose from other applicants, it's not a serious problem."

Čírtek called the applicants a typical cross-section of young Czech adults: 40 percent have graduated from high school; 52 percent have graduated high school trade programs; 3 percent have master's or doctoral degrees; and 15 percent are married.

The applicants, however, are predominately male: Only 11 percent are women, though that's higher than the average percentage for NATO national armies (8 percent) and on par with the percentage of women in the armies of most Western nations.

Veronika Havrilová, 20, from Hustopeče, a small town in south Moravia, said she enlisted after facing dismal job opportunities in the profession she had studied, veterinary medicine. "With the Army," she said, "I see stability. I see a sound future."

Potential danger

Czech officials did not historically need to rely on applicants: Until this year, fit Czech males had been required by law to submit to a conscription system. But as the Army geared up for its first recruitment drive last year, an unprecedented number of Czechs — about 1,000 — had been deployed in long-term missions abroad, a potential deterrent to anyone considering a military career.

Čírtek, however, said the foreign missions had not likely discouraged potential recruits, because all but one mission had been in peacekeeping, training or monitoring. Czechs are stationed in 10 conflict zones, from Sierra Leone to Iraq, but only troops in Afghanistan have seen combat, and no Czech soldiers died abroad last year.

"Being sent abroad could happen," said David Holeček, who joined the Army in the spring, "but it's not something I worry about. Not everyone goes. The Army is careful about picking the right people."

Czechs serving abroad also make comparatively high wages — from about 17,400 Kč ($700) to about 88,300 Kč — the high end of the scale being nearly six times the average Czech monthly wage. In fact, Army leaders partly credit their relatively high pay scale with luring the excess of recruits. Even Czech soldiers stationed domestically earn 22,000 Kč on average per month, plus an additional 10,000 Kč housing allowance.

"We offer good conditions," Čírtek said. "Besides salary and the housing allowance, soldiers for example have access to Army vacation facilities" across the Czech Republic.

Before the 1989 fall of communism, Czechoslovak men served a mandatory two years in the Army. With the Iron Curtain as its western border, the nation kept a standing Army of about 200,000; today, that number hovers below 23,000.

Between then and now, the Army reduced the length of mandatory service to 18 months, then one year, and finally six months. It also increased the number of professional soldiers, saying that modern weaponry required fewer soldiers with better training. Entry in 1999 into NATO, whose members pledge to help defend each other's borders, also made a large conscript Army unnecessary. The government phased out the last Czech conscripts Jan. 1.