The primary secrets to its outstanding defense infrastructure are an extremely well-developed NCO and commissioned officer corps. In terms of training, Greece is significantly ahead of Turkey, its primary potential adversary in any future conflict. The Greek Army, formally known as the Hellenic Armed Forces, is composed of approximately 116,000 men in peacetime, but can grow to the size of 357,000 in wartime, after reserve troops are mobilized.

The majority of military manpower is obtained through  conscription and voluntary enlistment for both men and women. Conscript  service is 18 months. Volunteers serve five years. Career professionals are 24 percent of the Army. the rest are conscripts. The army has an excellent leadership cadre and has established three schools to instruct officers and NCOs on their tasks and duties. The Hellenic Army War College is very similar to the US Army War College, where officers go to learn advanced strategy and tactics as well as leadership skills beyond those taught at the military academy or their branch’s specialty school.

The Hellenic Army Academy is the basic academy tasked with providing commissioned officers for the Regular Army. After completion of the four-year course, which includes both Academic and Military Studies, graduates are then commissioned as Second Lieutenants. From there, they go on to their chosen branch’s specialty school. The  the Military School of Non-Commissioned Officers is the most important school of all, as the NCO is essentially the backbone of any professional army. The NCO School provides NCOs with the instruction they to aid their commanding officers and execute their duties, which are many and varied and include maintaining discipline, being responsible for the training of enlisted personnel and conscripts, and the maintenance of equipment. In this regard, the Greek Army is very much similar to the British and US armies, where NCOs are given positions of great responsibility and authority. Almost all of the men in the Hellenic Army are loyal and patriotic and there is little to no anti-conscription sentiment. This may be due in part to Greece’s  military heritage of defeating superior forces in the face of certain defeat, dating back to the battles against the Persian Empire.