The minister said that in response to a recent suggestion from the Seimas defence committee head to increase compulsory military service from nine months to a year or two, an idea supported by Chief of Defence General Raimundas Vaikšnoras.
"If someone wants to increase the length of military service, he or she must also acknowledge that this would delay the training of the personnel needed for our national division by a few more years," Šakalienė told reporters on Wednesday.
Last week, MP Giedrimas Jeglinskas, chair of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence, told the LRT public broadcaster that he intended to initiate a debate on extending compulsory military service and on the conscription of women.
"Not to mention the fact that the two years of service reminds many parents of young people of the Soviet era, when two years of service probably did not have any good connotations," the minister said.
Šakalienė made it clear she would back the proposal for a six-month service instead of nine months.