The German Bundeswehr has a huge problem with the shortage of personnel. According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, 260,000 soldiers are needed to meet NATO requirements, and at the moment there are difficulties even in securing 200,000. ARD spoke to military historian and lecturer at Potsdam University Sönke Neitzel on the subject:
ARD: How do you see this whole discussion? And is compulsory military service not really necessary?
Sönke Neitzel: The minister's official position is that he will now introduce a law that also provides for compulsory service. That is good. Even wonderful. The mandatory part can be applied when it is established that there are not enough volunteers. All this, in my opinion, is a concession to the Social Democratic Party, which, for reasons that are not clear to me, is against compulsory military service. Although in 2011 it was against the abolition of compulsory military service.
The position of the Social Democrats is that compulsory military service should be introduced only when all other options have been exhausted. What is your opinion?
In my opinion, this does not make sense, because there are no half-idiots working in NATO. 260,000 people is not such a huge number compared to the contingent of Germany before and after the Cold War. After the unification, the soldiers were 370,000, respectively 260,000 for a country with 82 million inhabitants does not mean "militarization". It is clear that we need these soldiers, as well as 200,000 reservists. It is clear to everyone that this will not be done voluntarily.
At the same time, it is known that this figure of 80,000 additional forces will not be reached. We are wasting time. We must do everything possible to prevent confrontation. And therefore we must send clear signals of unity and deterrence.
"The population will accept it"
This means that you are pleading for it to be clearly stated - sooner or later we will need compulsory military service. In that case, wouldn't it be best to introduce it immediately?
Yes, that is unequivocal. 5,000 people can be immediately accepted into the army, for whom beds, helmets and weapons are provided. We can start now and send out a certain political signal - the republic is ready to adapt. It abolished military service in a certain political context. And of course it is able to bring it back again.
And the population is ready to accept this. From the latest surveys we see that over 70 percent are in favor of introducing compulsory military service, and there is a majority on the issue even among young people. That is - what are you waiting for?
However, Minister of Defense Pistorius says: if compulsory military service is introduced immediately, the army will not be able to cope. So many people cannot be accepted because there are not enough barracks, structures, training facilities. Doesn't it make sense to try voluntary service first, instead of coercion?
In any case, this is not about universal military service, as during the Cold War with more than 240,000 soldiers. Nobody is talking about it - it is about elective compulsory military service. If 40,000 people join the Bundeswehr now, it will be overwhelmed. But based on the numbers I know, I can say - if 5,000 people join the army tomorrow, it will not be a problem. It has to start somewhere.
However, if war breaks out, we will have to act quickly - there will be no time to form commissions. I think there are very good specialists in the Bundeswehr - let them act! The fear of taking steps weakens us. Democracy also weakens if people lose faith that we can really reform ourselves. I think the Bundeswehr can cope if given the opportunity. The discussion is ultimately political.
"Bureaucracy stifles innovation"
Pistorius has made reforming the Bundeswehr a priority. He said that this would require the creation of new structures in his ministry. What do you think is still wrong?
The ministry has 3,000 employees. And instead of being increased - as is the case in all ministries - they should be severely reduced. In the Bundeswehr, over 50 percent of the people are not involved in the implementation of missions, they are far from the military units, brigades, flotillas, squadrons.
In Israel, for example, 25 percent work in the administration. In my opinion, 30 percent would be enough in the Bundeswehr, which means that there are at least 30,000 more employees. Because we have so many departments and headquarters, any innovation is stifled by bureaucracy. That would be a huge effort. But every step we don't take now, we will pay with the blood of our soldiers in the event of a crisis.
Author: Kai Küstner ARD