Ending the Draft?

A half century has now passed since the call went out for every German male to take up arms in service to his country. Since 1957, young men past their 18th birthday have been required to serve in the military or, if they were conscientious objectors, to do civilian alternative service instead.

For most Germans, it was their patriotic duty, one which has not been disputed for years.

But everything changed after the fall of the Iron Curtain that divided Europe and the Soviet Union. European strategic planners no longer needed huge armed forces that could be called up at a moment's notice.

Germany is now surrounded by allies and needs to fulfill its global obligations in crisis zones with specially trained forces, not simple army recruits.

For politicians, the purpose of compulsory military service has been called into question. But until recently only political parties at the margins have vehemently called for an end to the draft. The mainstream parties had tried to preserve the model at the cost of reducing the length of service. While conscripts at one time spent 18 months in the Bundeswehr, today they serve nine.

Opponents of scrapping military conscription who are in favor of a volunteer, professional army have put forth some good arguments. Millions of recruits from all levels of society guarantee a continuous flow of soldiers. Plenty of top officers who have moved up the rank and file had only joined the armed forces because they were required to do their military service in the first place and found that they liked the idea of pursuing a professional career.

Is there a system that combines the benefits of a voluntary and a conscripted army? The SPD has tried to achieve a balancing act with a proposal that does not do away with the Bundeswehr, but calls for a volunteer army with the proviso that if not enough recruits sign up, the military draft could be reinstituted according to need.

It hopes to attract and hold on to recruits, but only those who truly want to join the military and stick with it. Financial or educational incentives for joining the military should guarantee enough recruits, according to the Social Democrats.

But then again, here is the weakness of the proposal. Competition from universities and private industry for young men could cost the military plenty. Germany's birth rate, now at 1.3 per woman of childbearing age, has been steadily declining over the past two decades.

Even today, professional armies in other European countries have fallen victim to high costs, low birth rates and a shortage of recruits. A voluntary force would be faced with the same problem, without the advantages of a professional army, that is, the dedication and willingness to give up certain privileges.

At present, some 7,400 German soldiers are deployed on foreign missions, of which less than half serve in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Since conscripts cannot be forcibly deployed in such conflict areas, such missions are already the preserve of specially trained forces.

There is too little debate over the purpose and goals of such deployments among Germans anyway. Filling the Bundeswehr with professionals would create a wider gap between the army and society at large.

What's clear is that, in its present form, there are not powerful enough incentives for young men to join the Bundeswehr voluntarily. One model to emulate could be Switzerland's army, where conscripts spend about four months in the barracks. In Austria the length of service is six months.

For Germany, too, compulsory military service for such a short period would be better than filling the ranks with a volunteer army.

Andreas Noll is an editor for DW-RADIO (df)