Another such sentence involves "internment without deprivation of liberty." This sentence restricts the individual to his place of residence or to another specified place. The term is usually from one to three years but, in the case of a repeated crime or in some other special circumstance, it can be for as long as five years. The essence of the penalty is that it consists of a restriction to the confines of the area within which the offender lives and works. He may not hold a job outside of the area, but he does not live in a special billet, nor is he isolated from his neighbors and local society. The usual objective, when this type of sentence is handed down, is to keep the individual in his home environment, where he retains responsibility for his share of the family support and is subject to its influences.
CHAPTER 16
ARMED FORCES
Bulgaria's regular military forces are organized within the Bulgarian People's Army (Bulgarska Narodna Armiya) and are subordinate in the governmental system to the Ministry of National Defense. Approximately 80 percent of the personnel are in the ground forces. Of the remaining 20 percent about three-quarters are in air and air defense units, and about one-quarter are naval forces.
Although Bulgaria is possibly the most staunch and sympathetic of the Soviet Union's allies in Eastern Europe, the country has no common border with the Soviet Union nor with any other of its Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact) allies except Romania. Because Romania has succeeded in establishing a precedent prohibiting movement of any foreign forces across its borders—even those of its closest allies—Bulgaria is to a large degree isolated from pact affairs. Unable to participate in more than token fashion in pact training, short of skilled men to care for complex equipment, and possibly restricted from an ability to become engaged during the early days of a combat situation, Bulgaria has undoubtedly lost some Soviet matériel support.
Because of this the forces have only small armored units, although the military establishment as a whole is large in relation to the population of the country. The air forces have been supplied with a few modern aircraft, but most of its airplanes are older than those of its pact allies. Naval forces are small. Even though logistic support has been meager, morale has been considered good, and the men and their leaders have been considered ideologically reliable.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The communist leadership considers only a few incidents in the history and tradition of the armed forces before World War II to be significant. Even in respect to that war, the sole esteemed service is that of the partisans in their resistance movement against their own government and against German troops in the country. Driving out the Turks to gain national independence in 1878 is remembered, as is the abortive uprising of the leftists against the government in September 1923. Emphasis on only these few historical events is encouraged, at least in part, because in much of their other warfare Bulgaria's fighting men frequently experienced frustration or defeat, sometimes violent and humiliating.