At the end of October, the Bundeswehr said it counted 181,383 soldiers in its ranks — that’s still some distance from the target of 203,000 that the German military hopes to reach by 2025. This has given rise to concern in times of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has once again reminded Germans how quickly conflicts can erupt in Europe.
Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career. He said he has received 65 concrete proposals from his ministry on recruitment and reforming training methods.
World War 3 is ramping up at a faster pace
Si vis pacem para bellum
it’s not that we want this but with dipshits like Russia at our borders there is no other way then ramping up those numbers and prepare for the worst.
Also it was very easy to opt out of it. I think I was one of the last who got drafted in 2007 and all of my friends avoided it by simply writing a letter and explaining that they have doubts using weapons.
Note: conscription is just one of the 65 proposals being thought over
From 1962, the GDR also introduced general compulsory military service for all men between the ages of 18 and 26 for a basic military service of 18 months. The only recognized reason for refusal was religious conviction.
So if you believed in a god who told you it was immoral to serve in the military you didn’t have to, but if you believed it was immoral because you came to that conclusion by thinking critically about the arguments for and against military service, you were just fucked?
This is the most German logic I have seen
It’s pretty much the same in the US. Religion is apparently more important than any other personal belief.
Germany and many other European countries which had abolished the compulsory military service years ago, are considering reintroducing it.
We had some decades of peace, but those times appear to be ending: EU should prepare for war by end of the decade
Add fyi: Is compulsory military service coming back in Europe
It’s been only 13 years since the last conscripts were called up. Crazy. I really thought it was over. It’s probably not going to be brought back immediately, but the way things are heading…
Die Trommeln des Krieges beginnen erneut zu schlagen
Sechs Uhr früh, die Erde bebt… warte, nee
ist ja nicht so dass wir eine andere Wahl haben bei Arschlochstaaten wie Russland…
Und mal ehrlich den Wehrdienst verweigern war sehr einfach, zumindest hat im Gegensatz zu mir keiner meiner Freunde an der Waffe Dienst getan.
How about we try making it less shitty first?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career.
As journalist and defense and security policy expert Thomas Wiegold told DW: "A major frustration in the Bundeswehr is the bureaucracy.
When Pistorius floated his ideas about conscription in December, he faced a barrage of criticism, including from within his own center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Party co-chair Saskia Esken said it would be impossible to implement mandatory recruitment on an ad hoc basis “because the training units required for this are no longer available.”
“The reintroduction of compulsory service would be a serious encroachment on the freedom of young people who want to orient themselves professionally,” FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr warned in an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe.
“Who would have thought around two years ago that the Bundestag would decide on setting up a special fund of €100 billion for the Bundeswehr against the backdrop of a Russian war of aggression?”
The original article contains 900 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Won’t happen. We don’t have the infrastructure. Or weapons. Or trainers.
Infrastructure can be developed, weapons can be built, trainers can be taught (or borrowed, probably). It’s a speed bump, not a roadblock.
Can’t conscription help build a more anti war sentiment? It’s easy to send young people to war when it’s the poor and the elites and middle class call the shots. But if the military has more equal class representation, maybe leaders in a democratic society would behave differently.
I don’t know if Germany already does this, but if not expect to see some weird insertions of patriotism and military recruiters in schools lying to kids
Nah, Germany has had compulsory military service before and this was never a thing here.
Conscription is even worse imo.
Compulsory military service and conscription are the same thing in this context.
I know, and I’m calling it worse than the way the US drives their military numbers.
you know that those people will not get send to the frontlines outside of germany, right? If drafted, conscripts only would be deployed on national territory and only if germany would be under attack.
When rich kids fight next to poor kids you will have politicians think twice before they start a war.
compulsory military service isn’t a good thing though. That’s like saying the romans went to war less because the Praetors were cavalry.
cautionary edit: I’m not going to get into historical debates about Romans. The Praetors were primarily from the Equestrian class, and in the early republic were cavalry because they had the money to maintain war horses.
It’s a pretty cost effective alternative to maintaining an excessively large standing force.
If everyone gets 12-18 months of training, it allows the nation the capacity to mobilize quickly “on-demand”, instead of that capacity being “always on”.
I imagine there are other periphery societal benefits. Having a shared experience, even if it is military service, can be good for cultural unity.
Not saying they should or shouldn’t, btw. Just saying it might be more pragmatic than the alternatives.
Every country should do it.
Mmm, slavery. Tasty.
