Mistakes Happen in War

DW-WORLD.DE: Eighteen Bundeswehr (Germany army) trainers are currently standing trial in Münster for acting out a hostage situation where recruits were allegedly mistreated. Were the trainers even authorized to stage a hostage-taking?

Marco Seliger: No. It is only authorized at two locations: The UN training center in Hammelburg and the Altmark military training center in Letzlinger Heide in Saxony-Anhalt. That's where the Bundeswehr trains soldiers for foreign assignments. Hostage drills may only be conducted there, under the direction of soldiers and psychologists. The participating soldiers can interrupt the training if it's too much for them.

How severe does the training have to be?

That depends on the deployment location. In the Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosovo it's not appropriate to practice hostage-taking, since this kind of scenario would be very unlikely there. But the situation is different in Afghanistan. The training has to be comparable to the assignment -- hard and demanding. But a hostage scenario can never be replicated exactly. You can just try to make the exercise as close to reality as possible.

What does "hard" mean? Should the recruit experience during training what it's like to really be afraid?

To more or less be able to understand what a hostage or kidnapping situation is like, a soldier should certainly be introduced to the feeling of fear. Fear is also a means of protection and it often keeps people from reacting impulsively, which could lead to the death of a hostage.

How would you compare the Bundeswehr's training with that of the US armed forces?

That's a comparison that can't be made. The Bundeswehr attaches greater importance to intercultural competence and the soldiers are familiarized with local culture and conditions. That's something the Americans have neglected for a long time.

We also provide medical training and teach our soldiers how to avoid hidden explosives. And we bring up the question of whether to shoot or not to shoot. Our soldiers don't just crawl around on the battlefield and practice military things, which some people associate with US training.

Critics have spoken of increased brutality in the Bundeswehr and brought up the photographs showing Bundeswehr soldiers in Afghanistan desecrating human skulls. What do you think about that?

An increase in brutality is certainly not the case. As for the skull photographs, a member of the defense committee told me: "We overreacted at that time, as far as the publication of the photos was concerned. We were under pressure from the media."

There were no elements of an offense, although individual soldiers were certainly guilty of misconduct. I don't know if the soldiers where under stress from their assignment or if they were bored.

One thing must be clear: When we send young people to places like Afghanistan where a war is going on -- Afghanistan is not a peacekeeping but a combat mission -- then we shouldn't be surprised when our soldiers get entangled in combat operations and use their weapons to shoot at people.

In a threatening situation, it's also possible that our soldiers make mistakes. That happens in every war. Since then, the Bundeswehr has learned a few lessons from the skull scandal. It is now developing a training concept that addresses the soldiers' ethical competence. But no one can guarantee that lapses won't occur again.

Deployment conditions are becoming more and more stressful for the German soldiers. Has the Bundeswehr done anything to improve post-deployment support?

Yes, the Bundeswehr learned from the terror attack in Afghanistan in June 2003. Four soldiers were killed and more than 30 were wounded. Many soldiers suffered from trauma when they returned from Afghanistan and some of them are still affected by it today. Since then, the Bundeswehr has increased its psychological support for returning soldiers -- not least thanks to the doctors at the military hospital in Hamburg.

Still, that's not enough. The number of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder will increase, since the demands of the mission will increase, which the Bundeswehr is not yet prepared for. There aren't enough doctors and, among the troops themselves, many still think that you can only be a strong soldier if you can deal with these kinds of human problems by yourself.

Marco Seliger, 34, is the editor-in-chief of "loyal," the magazine of the Bundeswehr reservist organization. As a member of the Bundeswehr, he participated in several foreign missions himself, including in Afghanistan and the Balkans.