Military hazing

On Sunday, Germany's parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Reinhold Robbe, was quoted by the weekly mass-circulation newspaper Bild am Sonntag as saying five more soldiers had come to him with stories of forced eating, drinking and vomiting.

This comes just a week after Robbe submitted a report detailing allegations of such treatment, known as hazing, at a mountain infantry training camp in Mittenwald in southern Germany to the parliament's defense policy committee. The original report came from a conscript who said he and others were forced to drink alcohol and eat raw liver until they vomited.

"After the complaint from the soldier from the mountain infantry in Mittenwald, more soldiers have now come forward with reports, both from the Mittenwald unit and also from other sites," Bild am Sonntag quoted Robbe as saying.

Robbe said he would inform the defense policy committee this coming week.

Robbe also told Bild am Sonntag that he was concerned about a general problem with alcohol abuse and over-drinking in the Bundeswehr.

"I have the impression that in certain parts of the Bundeswehr there's an after-hours alcohol problem that we must fight against," he told the newspaper. "The reports suggest that excessive alcohol consumption played a big role. Binge drinking should absolutely not be taking place in the Bundeswehr, at locations within Germany and abroad."

The Munich district attorney is currently investigating one soldier on suspicion of causing intentional injury as part of the ongoing investigation into the reports of hazing.


hf/apn/dpa
Editor: Andreas Illmer