2023-06-17 07:08:31
Career centers, campaigns or today’s “Bundeswehr Day”: The troops like to present themselves as an attractive employer. But too few young people can convince them of this. Why is that?
The Bundeswehr wants to initiate a “turnaround in personnel”. The program of the same name provides for an offensive in new hires. It was already decided in 2016 under former Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU). Even then it was evident that there were not enough personnel for the increased range of tasks of the Bundeswehr all over the world – even before the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. By 2031, the army is expected to have 203,000 employees.
But the Bundeswehr is a long way from a trend reversal in terms of personnel. Instead, the workforce has stagnated for years at around 183,000 soldiers. Demographic change also affects the troops: around 20,000 new hires are needed every year to compensate for the number of departures. The growth plans of the “trend reversal” are not even taken into account. The lack of young talent turns out to be the biggest sideshow for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
“Even bigger Challenge als Material”
Pistorius was recently unable to answer how realistic the self-imposed – and repeatedly postponed – target of 203,000 soldiers is. “I dare not predict whether we can reach the number,” he said earlier this month during a visit to the Federal Office for Personnel Management of the Bundeswehr in Cologne.
More frigates and new fighter jets are on everyone’s lips. The majority of the 100 billion euros from the special fund for the Bundeswehr will be used to modernize equipment. But there aren’t enough men and women to operate the frigates and fighter jets. “Personnel is currently almost an even greater challenge than material,” said the Bundestag’s defense commissioner, Eva Högl (SPD). tagesschau.de.
Idealism as the main motive
The signs are not good for the personnel plans of the Bundeswehr. In times of skills shortages, the competition for the military is fierce. The private sector beckons with flexible working hours, childcare and higher pay. The Bundeswehr has defective equipment and dilapidated barracks in many places. Young people’s interest in military service is also declining.
“For those who actually apply, the focus is more on idealistic aspects,” reports Martin Elbe, a military sociologist who conducts research at the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences in Potsdam. Figures from the “Applicant Study 2022” he carried out show this.
Even the chancellor likes to sit in the Eurofighter.
Career Center and Campaigns
Those responsible are trying to improve the bad reputation. The Bundeswehr has been spending large sums on for years, with web series such as “The Recruits” costing more than six million euros. There are also career centers throughout Germany, summer camps for young people and today’s “Bundeswehr Day”.
A new campaign called “What Counts” explicitly names the “events in Ukraine” as a reason to join the Bundeswehr. The large-format advertisements and quickly edited videos undoubtedly draw attention to the army – but so far have not been reflected in the increasing number of applicants.
On the contrary: in 2022 the number even fell. In the year of the “turning point” proclaimed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), almost 44,000 applications were received for a military career – eleven percent fewer than in the previous year. The dropout rate among recruits is also far too high at 21 percent, said the military commissioner Högl. Meanwhile, at the end of the year, almost 18,692 posts above the enlisted level in the Bundeswehr were vacant. That is almost every sixth military position.
Word of mouth is important
But part of the staffing problem is homegrown. Because it is not just the lack of equipment that causes problems for the soldiers. The report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces makes it clear that a lot is expected of the servicewomen and men. There is talk of overtime that adds up to several weeks. It is examples like these that contribute to the fact that many soldiers turn their backs on the army at an early stage.
The negative experiences can also hurt word of mouth. And that’s what counts: Recommendations from friends, family and acquaintances are – in addition to the offers on the Internet – a decisive motivation for applicants to commit themselves to military service. This emerges from the surveys of the military sociologist Elbe. The applicant study also shows that around 70 percent of applications end with a rejection by the federal government. Elbe therefore proposes to give more commitments. He does not see this as a reduction in the level of qualification.
Debate on conscription
The Commissioner for the Armed Forces sees a need for action to increase the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr as an employer. Högl named the compatibility of family and work, but also modern barracks – not least with functioning WLAN, as important building blocks.
CDU defense politician Roderich Kiesewetter takes the problems as an opportunity to call for fundamental structural reforms in the Bundeswehr. The retired colonel also brings about the introduction of compulsory service tagesschau.de into the conversation. A model like that in Norway or Sweden is worth considering, where compulsory service is voluntary and various incentives are offered. The turning point also includes tackling recruitment for the Bundeswehr.
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