Germany joined the countries that abolished universal military service less than ten years ago. In addition to measures for radical rearmament, during this time there was a change in command structures and a sharp reduction in personnel. By 2019, the number of new soldiers in the German army had dropped to the lowest in the history of the Bundeswehr.
According to the government decision, approved by the FRG parliament, when forming the national armed forces from July 1, 2011, the country began to do without forced recruits. Bundeswehr is completed exclusively on a professional basis. But the government did not dare to completely abolish military service. In the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, Article 12 "a" has been preserved, which provides for the possibility of conscripting German youths who have reached the age of 18 for military service, border guards or civil defense units. German Chancellor Angela Merkel motivated such a decision by the fact that the universal appeal will need to be revived in the event of "a change in the international situation and the emergence of a real threat to the country's security and sovereignty."
Service in the German army
In the Federal Republic of Germany, any person between the ages of 18 and 40 is given the opportunity to assume civil responsibility and serve for the good of his country, having voluntarily agreed to fulfill the duties of a soldier for some time.
Provides Freiwilliger Wehrdienst - six months of voluntary military service as a probationary period. During this time, the volunteer has the right to interrupt the service at any time. But the Bundeswehr can also terminate the contract prematurely if the soldier does not meet its requirements. The main reason in this case is the health problems of the recruit. This is followed by additional voluntary military service, the duration of which can be determined by yourself. The duration of contact ranges from a minimum of 1 year to 23 months.
Volunteers of the Bundeswehr live on everything ready, take a young soldier's course and receive a military specialty. The salary of a soldier is differentiated: in the first 3 months of service it is 777 euros, from 19 to 23 months - 1146 euros. At the moment, the German army most of all needs information technology specialists, as well as orderlies and representatives of a number of specialties for service in the Navy. The shortage of military doctors is about 16%, the shortage of technical personnel for servicing complex mechanisms is 20%.
Bundeswehr showroom
In connection with the annexation of Crimea to Russia, which Germany still calls "annexation", the country has embarked on a course to build up the army. The German Ministry of Defense plans to increase the personnel of the Bundeswehr to 198 thousand people by 2024.
Bundeswehr organizes campaigns to increase the attractiveness of the army service. To this end, five years ago in the very center of Berlin, opposite the Friedrichstrasse station, a unique institution of its kind was opened - a kind of "boutique" selling career opportunities in the German army. The "parade" in the institution is led by its leader, Captain Ferdinand Storm, who considers the army not only a reliable, but also an ideologically attractive place of work.
A smiling young man opens the door, greets loudly and professionally answers any questions from someone who has come here. The Berlin showroom is open from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. Employees estimate that about half of the visitors drop in out of idle curiosity. Others come up with specific questions about career and educational opportunities during their military service. The fourth part of those interested are women, for whom the road to the army is open on an equal basis with men. From 30 to 40 people come to the institution per day. For many young men and women, a military career can begin with a first visit to a showroom - if they pass interviews and admission tests for military aptitude.
Features of the national service
Currently, the personnel of the FRG army is 180 thousand servicemen. Every tenth German soldier is a woman. There are more than 17 thousand LGBT people. The Ministry of Defense plans to bring the number to 203 thousand servicemen by 2025. According to experts, this is difficult to achieve, since there are certain difficulties in recruiting a professional army.
The Bundeswehr is growing, but it is acquiring fewer and fewer new personnel. The reason is that only one in five wants to become a contract soldier. And about a third of all volunteers leave the ranks of the German army during the probationary period. As a result, the increase in the total number is mainly due to the extension of previous contracts. Bundeswehr is experiencing a shortage of personnel due to the fact that most of the soldiers doing military service on a voluntary basis are dissatisfied with military service. According to a study by the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences, two-thirds of the volunteers in the German army feel underappreciated. They believe that in terms of physical and mental work, they are presented with low demands. Only 30% of respondents said that serving in the army made sense for them. And a quarter of the respondents who positively assessed the time spent in the Bundeswehr admitted that they had not learned anything good, had not felt a contribution to their personal development.
Due to the shortage of contract soldiers in the German army, the Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany is taking the following measures:
- Search for recruiters abroad. It is planned to recruit citizens of Poland, Italy and Romania to serve in the national army. Volunteers from EU member states are offered the specialties of IT specialists and doctors. It is not specified yet whether the citizens of other states will serve together with the Germans, or form a foreign legion. It is possible that the group of recruits will be limited only to those foreigners who have lived in the country for several years and speak German fluently.
- Attracting people of different faiths to the army. For those who profess Judaism, the positions of rabbis have recently been introduced in the army units of the Bundeswehr. According to a special personal statement, Muslim military personnel are allocated time for prayers, a special menu is provided for them in the soldiers' canteens, and so on.
- Helping servicemen to combine service and family life: creation of kindergartens and nurseries at the barracks; consideration of marital status when drawing up an official schedule, transfers to other garrisons and business trips for operations abroad.
- An increase of up to 12% in the number of female military personnel by expanding the specialties available to them. If earlier the army destiny of women were only medical and sanitary battalions and military bands, today their main part shows a special interest in the pilot's specialty, giving preference to helicopters.
- A law is being prepared to close access to the Bundeswehr for Islamists.
- The idea of returning to the obligatory military conscription is being discussed.
According to the inspector general of the Bundeswehr, Eberhard Zorn, the shortage of contract soldiers in the German army has yet to be filled. There is no influx of people willing to serve from abroad. As for the change in the principle of the formation of the armed forces, most likely there is no turning back - from the countries that have switched to non-conscription service, not a single state, except Sweden, has returned to the previous system of compulsory service. In addition, demographers predict a decline in the number of young people of draft age: due to the fall in fertility in 2025, 11% fewer young people will graduate from schools in Germany than ten years earlier.
According to a survey by the Sociological Institute Civey, 55.6% of respondents are in favor of the restoration of compulsory conscription, 39.6% are against it. Experts, however, consider the option of returning to military service in the FRG practically excluded. There is only one way out - to make service in the Bundeswehr more attractive for the Germans. So that, following the example of Thailand, recruitment into the army would take place in the form of a drawing in a lottery, and the one who got the lucky ticket could become a soldier in the Bundeswehr.
