Military service
October 24, 2009
A deal to reduce the period of compulsory military service in Germany was worked out between Chancellor Angela Merkel's incoming government coalition of the conservative Union parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP).
As of January 1, 2011, military service will be reduced from nine months to six.
In its election platform, the FDP had called for an abolishment of conscription, however Chancellor Merkel prefers to keep some form of military service.
As it now stands, young men are obliged to do a compulsory tour of duty in the German military. They can opt out or refuse, but then must perform "civilian service," such as working in a hospital, nursing home or other civil organization.
Under the new proposal, military service will consist of three months of basic training, two months of specialized training and one month of duty in specialist service units.
The reactions to the deal have been swift and varied.
While Werner Hoyer, a member of the FDP, called it a reasonable compromise, Johannes Kahrs, a leader in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), called the proposal pure nonsense.
"For military service to have any value at all, it should take at least nine months," said Kahrs in an interview with the Hamburg Abendblatt newspaper.
SPD defense expert Rainer Arnold said that lowering the time from nine months to six relegated military service to "an introductory course" instead of a full meal.
East versus west
One of the main reasons for conscription and maintaining an army in readiness in the past was the deep mistrust that existed between the former East Germany (GDR) and West Germany.
Service in the military for all men over the age of 18 became compulsory in 1956. The option of doing civil service instead of military service was introduced in 1961.
Over the years, the amount of time one had to serve in the military has been reduced. In the 1960s it was 18 months. After January 2002 that number had fallen to nine months.
In the former GDR, compulsory military service was introduced in 1962.
There are currently about 250,000 men in the German army. Of that amount, 68,270 are conscripts and of those, 25,270 are soldiers who volunteered to remain a few months longer after their mandatory service was up.
Future possibilities
Another concern of reducing military service is the concomitant effect on civil service positions that have been filled by men who chose not to serve in the military. Some have said this loss of manpower to civil organizations would be harmful.
But Peter Tobiassen, the head of an organization that represents conscientious objectors, has said that there are three times as many applicants for those positions than there are jobs available.
While the CDU and CSU want to maintain some sort of military conscription in the future, the idea of an all-voluntary military continues to circulate.
In an interview in July, Germany's incoming foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said that while conscription had its merits, it was a thing of the past.
Ulrich Kirsch, the chairman of the Federal Armed Forces Association said that the German army was "open to" the idea of an all voluntary force, but more research was needed.
In any event, Kirsch noted that changing to an all voluntary army would require amending the constitution, which would take a two-thirds majority, and that that was not going to happen in the near future.
av/dpa/AP/AFP
Editor: Kyle James