Chancellor Olaf Scholz has proclaimed a “turning point,” but Gen Z is not willing to go along with it: military service is more unpopular than ever before. This has not gone unnoticed by the parties either.
Desperate measures for difficult times: The Bundeswehr now also wants to advertise on TikTok. This mainly has to do with the fact that the army is running out of soldiers.
Since the end of compulsory military service, the gap between debits and credits in terms of army strength has been growing; There are currently almost 182,000 young people serving in the force – a significant gap to the target of 203,000 set for 2031. There have never been fewer soldiers than currently in the history of the Bundeswehr.
In the Sunday “Press Club”, specialist journalist Julia Weigelt paints the near future in the darkest of colors: With Putin’s Russia, Europe and the Western world have an opponent who is “seriously considering attacking the Baltics -” analysts assume that he will in five “It will be ready by six years.”
An attack on the Baltic countries obliges NATO to intervene in events, emphasizes Peter Dausend, political correspondent for “Zeit”. That’s why we have to discuss this question: “How can the Bundeswehr become as strong as it needs to be again?” Or as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) puts it: “We have to be able to wage a war so that we can “Don’t have to lead him.”
Simply trusting that other countries will continue to stand up for Germany’s security – this idea sounds increasingly naive, especially in view of the possible re-election of former US President Donald Trump.
In this respect, Rudi Wais from the “Augsburger Allgemeine” believes that the increasingly frequently heard vocabulary of Germany’s “war capability” is a wake-up call to the heart of our country: “We also have to prepare ourselves mentally for a new threat.”
However, the extremely fit young person who can crawl through the mud and jump over walls is becoming less and less in demand given the threat of cyber wars. “To put it bluntly, we don’t need jocks, but rather a few more nerds,” says Wais. Flat feet and severe myopia would not be reasons for decommissioning, but rather indications of potential suitability.
Kristina Dunz from the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” advocates the “Sweden model”: Around 30 percent of all adults – men and women – are screened there based on a questionnaire and one in ten of them are drafted. Supposedly in Sweden this has increased the overall social identification with the army, also because there are various career benefits associated with military service: service with the weapon as a career springboard.
Would this “light conscription” be an option for Germany? For this to happen, the Basic Law would have to be changed, explains Peter Dausend. The principle of military justice applies to us, so those drafted could file a lawsuit against it under the light model. “And the probability that they will be served justice is relatively high.”
However, military justice would – especially in our equal times – also mean that both men and women would be drafted into the army in the future. But then, Weigelt threatens, some of the current political leaders in the Bundestag would open a much larger barrel and demand equal rights with regard to other points as well. For example, regarding the fact that the unpaid care work in the family has so far fallen primarily on female shoulders.
Added to this is the blatant sexism that is still common practice among men in the army. It is doubtful that with this approach the Bundeswehr will become an attractive employer for women in the foreseeable future. And we haven’t even talked about the drafting of LGBTQ people and gender-neutral toilets in the barracks and in the field.
But don’t worry, dear Gen Z: the topic – regardless of the outlined threat from Russia – will probably not be on the political agenda before the end of 2025 anyway. At least that’s what Kristina Dunz believes: the SPD and the Greens are simply afraid of losing votes. Threatening that sons and daughters will have to carry out compulsory military service only scares the clientele away. And neither red nor green can afford that.
But the FDP is also in demand, especially Finance Minister Christian Lindner: A mandatory year for young people – whether in the armed forces or social services – would cost around 15 billion euros. Can Germany afford that? And does Germany want to afford that?
This wouldn’t be possible with the debt brake – Lindner’s “fetish”, as Dausend puts it. Especially not the effort to make military service financially attractive for contract soldiers. That would require a triple whammy.