Germans at war over changes to military

It is the only duty that is demanded of young people that enables a life in freedom and, in the final analysis, peace.General Klaus Naumann, former chief of staff.True to its dark past, Germany has found itself in contortions over plans to slash its armed forces and virtually abolish conscription.

The biggest military reduction scheme in Western Europe since the end of the Cold War may be saluted in some countries as enduring proof that Germany is a mature, peaceable democracy.

But within Germany itself, the proposal is being challenged over fears it may one day encourage a return to military adventurism.

Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg says he wants to cut the federal armed forces, or Bundeswehr, from 252,000 men today to 165,000.

To achieve this, conscription, which accounts for about a fifth of the Bundeswehr today, would be suspended. Emerging from the change would be a smaller, leaner, all-volunteer force that would be better trained, better paid and more capable of complex, fast-response missions in distant hotspots.

"The result would be a smaller but better army, more effectively equipped for operations," Guttenberg said last week.

Guttenberg took a close look at the Bundeswehr after taking office last October. He found that despite its huge pool of manpower, the army met only half of its target of having 14,000 top-level troops available for missions at any given time.

Guttenberg sees the reform as the centrepiece of potential savings of €8.3 billion ($33 billion) by 2014, helping the Government achieve economies of €80 billion over this period. .

His overhaul is "about time", said James Joyner of the Atlantic Council thinktank. "If, as some predict, the military budget will be cut by 40 per cent, it would be madness to spend a large chunk of what's left on troops who don't want to be there, can't be deployed for sustained operations and are out the door soon after their initial training is completed."

But the plan has sparked handwringing in Germany itself. A member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), Guttenberg is pressing ahead in the face of criticism from Christian Democrats in Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition and from opposition Social Democrats.

The reason: a conscription army has played a central role in Germany's civic education for more than half a century. The notion is entrenched that "citizens in uniform" prevent the military from being subverted by a fanatical elite, as happened in 19th century Prussia and in the 1930s under the Nazis.

Military service "is the instrument that links society and the armed forces", warns Volker Kauder, the Christian Democrats' parliamentary chief. "On numerous occasions in our past, we have seen what can happen if this bond is no longer there."

Another volley was fired by General Klaus Naumann, the armed forces' former chief of staff.

"I am a convinced supporter of conscription, because in my country it is the only duty that is demanded of young people that enables a life in freedom and, in the final analysis, peace," he says.

Germany is one of only five of Nato's 28 nations that still has conscription. After World War II, the western allies barred the then West Germany from developing a military force. But the policy had to be reversed in the face of the mounting threat from the Warsaw Pact.

The Bundeswehr was set up in 1955, along with a mandatory 18-month service for men aged between 18 and 23. It was promoted as a citizens' army and a unifying, stabilising force, a bulwark against any future putsch. The collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 swept away the external threat, but also the need for military service itself.

In 2009, the country had a pool of more than 400,0000 potential conscripts, but only 63,000 call-up papers were sent out.

The rest were considered medically unfit, were prospective police and firemen, were given deferment because of age or studies, or described themselves as conscientious objectors. Those who fall into the latter category are automatically granted community service, such as working in hospitals and retirement homes. The number has risen from 27,000 in 1971 to 150,000 last year.

Boredom is entrenched among conscripts, and YouTube is filled with video clips of them having sleeping-bag races, doing the "Bundeswehr Twist" in uniforms, steel helmets and gas masks and other such larks.

Germany has 4500 troops stationed in Afghanistan, the third largest national contingent after the US and Britain. But the mission is maintained in the face of widespread public hostility, and its offensive operations are rare.

Deferring to worries about the future of the conscription, Guttenberg says he has no plans to have the military service excised from Germany's constitution. He argues that decades of civic education has left its imprint in German society in rejecting militarism, and rebuts those who predict the Bundeswehr will be fatally weakened.

Other countries that have scrapped conscription have successfully turned their armed forces into a professional organisations, he said, citing the US, Britain and France.

His announcement came only weeks after approval of a law to reduce conscription from nine months to six. Naumann said this move in effect had destroyed conscription as six months was too short to gain the advanced skills needed.

Although the Bundeswehr could operate successfully as an all-volunteer army, it was essential to retain the option of conscription, Naumann said: "None of us know what the world will look like in 10 or 20 years' time."

German armed forces

Today: 252,000

Goal:165,000

* After World War II, West Germany was prevented from developing a military force.

* The Bundeswehr was set up in 1955 in the face of the mounting threat from the Warsaw Pact.

* A mandatory 18-month service for men aged between 18 and 23 was also introduced.