The authors of the work take up the issue of changes in the approach to acquiring and maintaining human capital in the Polish Armed Forces in comparison with changes in the security environment. They point to the idea of the Territorial Defense Forces as an antidote to the “little green men” tactics used by Russia during the annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as the solutions introduced by the Act of March 11, 2022 on defense of the homeland and the program to increase the size of the Polish Army, as an element of building military capability as an element of effective deterrence. To achieve the goal, i.e. to increase the size of the Polish Armed Forces to approx. 300,000 soldiers, a systemic change in the area of recruitment as well as the forms and principles of military service was necessary. Pointing to modern – keeping pace with the development of modern generations – solutions and increasing the attractiveness of service in an organization considered by many to be conservative is the essence of this study.