Struggling to Muster Troops: Bundeswehr's Voluntary Service Strategy Under Scrutiny
Bundeswehr Volunteerism Reaches Its Limit According to Top Commander.
In a nutshell, the Bundeswehr is wrestling with a personnel crunch. The chorus for reinstating the compulsory draft, shelved in 2011, is growing louder. Yet, the current government prefers to rely on voluntary enlistment for now. However, a senior officer has his doubts about its longevity.
Major General Andreas Henne, commander of the Bundeswehr's Home Defense Division, isn't convinced that the new military service will do without a mandatory component in the long haul. "To safeguard critical defense infrastructure, I simply need more soldiers than I can currently recruit," he told the German Press Agency (dpa). "The aim is to secure as many volunteers as possible to initially bypass a mandatory component. But the more soldiers we need, the more we'll likely hit the limits of voluntary service." When probed about the first call-up of recruits, Henne revealed, "This will happen this year. We're all prepped for it."
During his discussion, Henne shared his thoughts on the 2011 conscription suspension, "If we faced a crisis or a war, then we'd have to conscript and, in that case, would fall back on the suspended conscription. However, I regret that only men would be conscripted then. So, it's high time to think about whether and how to change that." However, this could only happen with a constitutional amendment.
Henne also underscored, "We must become war-ready or defense-capable, and we must outrun the competition in logistics to deter threats." This doctrine proved effective in the Cold War. "Hence, all our efforts aim at establishing a Bundeswehr that's credibly defense-ready and eliminates the enemy's appetite for conflict."
The coalition agreement outlines a new military service model leaning on voluntarism. This is a compromise that caters to the SPD's demands. The Union had advocated for the reinstatement of conscription.
Deputy CDU faction chair, Norbert Röttgen, urges embedding a mandatory element in the new military service law, should voluntarism fail to meet the manpower expansion needs of the Bundeswehr. "The instruments we can fall back on if voluntarism doesn't yield results must be created now," Röttgen declared to the "World".
Röttgen emphasized that both components of this compromise should be considered from the outset. "Consequently, it must already be stated in the new military service law that, if voluntarism doesn't yield success, a duty applies. Because we don't have the time to experiment with it for two years and only then prepare the alternative."
The 2011 suspension, under former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, was practically synonymous with the abolition of military and civilian service. The Bundeswehr currently has approximately 180,000 active soldiers. By 2031, it is slated to have more than 200,000.
[1] ntv.de[2] gut/dpa[3] Deutsche Welle[4] Politico[5] Spiegel Online
- Bundeswehr
- Volunteer Services
- Germany
- Military Conscription
- German Defense Policy
- Norbert Röttgen
- Debate and Discussion
- In light of the challenges facing the Bundeswehr's voluntary service strategy, there have been calls for reconsideration of military conscription, particularly among political figures such as Major General Andreas Henne and Deputy CDU faction chair, Norbert Röttgen, who advocate for embedding a mandatory component in the new military service law.
- The ongoing debate in German politics regarding the defense sector includes discussions about the effectiveness of volunteer services compared to a potential reinstatement of conscription, with key figures like Henne and Röttgen frequently raising the issue, particularly in the context of the Bundeswehr's need to meet its expanding manpower requirements.
