It’s snowing, and 16-year-old Carlota stands on the vast military training grounds of Grafenwöhr looking at howitzer 2000 ammunition. When the shells are fired it is cold and very loud, so Carlota has to wear earplugs.
It’s a day like no other for the young schoolgirl: while her friends are sitting in heated classrooms in Cologne, she has set off alone by train to Bavaria. In the barracks of Tank Artillery Battalion 375 in Weeden, she has been taken to a room and given a uniform, in which she now stands in the winter cold in the field with two dozen other young men and women.
A whole team of supervisors looks after the youth: the German army is leaving no stone unturned in recruiting new soldiers. Carlotta also wants to see if the Bundeswehr really means something to her. To do this, she is taking part in so-called “Discovery Days” – a kind of mini-internship with soldiers, including morning sports and cordial evenings.
The student can also imagine joining the army in future. “Initially for three or four years, and if I like it then for eight years,” he told DW. But she doesn’t think too much about recruitment: “You shouldn’t impose anything on people. It’s much better to join voluntarily than to join by force, because then you lose your motivation.”
Policemen will earn more from January
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius sees it that way: He says the new military service law is aimed at encouraging more young people to volunteer. One incentive is better pay: Starting in 2026, new hires will receive a respectable monthly salary of €2,600 ($3,000) before tax. In return, they must serve in the army for at least six months. Those who commit for at least twelve months will also receive a subsidy for their driving lessons.
Germany’s new military service, which the Bundestag approved on Friday, is therefore a kind of stimulus campaign with the one thing Pistorius wants to avoid: a rapid return to full membership, which his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) reject. Pistorius insisted in a Bundestag debate, “If everything goes as we hope, military service will remain voluntary.”
But will it be possible to meet the shortage of personnel without membership? While the SPD is hopeful, politicians from the other government parties, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties, are skeptical. They would like to return to national service, which Germany suspended in 2011.
The Bundeswehr wants to recruit 80,000 new soldiers by 2035, and the path to reach that goal is detailed in the new law. The Defense Ministry must submit its progress reports to the Bundestag every six months. Given the perceived threat posed by Russia, the standing army is to be increased from its current level of 182,000 troops to 260,000 – this is Germany’s commitment to NATO. In addition, there will also be a reserve of Rs 200,000.
First favorite, then rejected: lottery
The dispute over future military service plans has divided the ruling coalition for months. Controversially discussed models also included lottery systems. The proposal to determine who joins the Bundeswehr by lottery particularly angered many young people: potentially life-and-death decisions should not be made at random. In general, many young people feel that they have been left out of the discussion about military service.
The new “Military Service Modernization Act” is now a compromise: for the time being, military service remains voluntary. But at the same time, all 18-year-old males will have new obligations: from the beginning of 2026, they will receive a questionnaire that they must fill out. It will ask about their willingness to serve in the Bundeswehr, their physical fitness and their education. For women, answering the questions is voluntary, as they cannot be required to perform military service under the Constitution.
From mid-2027, the process will go one step further: all men born in 2008 or later will have to appear for a scheduled fitness test that will determine who can be drafted in the event of a conflict. Although the process will begin in 2026, the Bundeswehr will not have sufficient capacity to take on new recruits until mid-2027.
Criticism of essential medicines
Mandatory medical examination is particularly controversial: critics consider it a first step towards full decriminalization. They also fear that the lottery system will collapse again if enough volunteers do not come forward. In that case, the government could decide to introduce a so-called “needs-based prescription”, whereby a portion of youth of a given age group would be drafted based on the needs of the Bundeswehr. The decision to fully or partially reinstate conscription rests with the Bundestag.
On the day the law was passed, schoolchildren took to the streets in several German cities: “We do not want to be locked in barracks for half the year, trained in drill and obedience, and taught to kill,” wrote organizers of the “school strike against conscription” in their call for nationwide rallies. “As a generation we feel neglected, and we don’t understand why our generation should jump into the ditch for the government,” Leo Reinemann, a student and co-organizer of the school strike in Koblenz, told the public broadcaster. SWR,
The number of conscientious objectors is increasing
However, no one is required to do military service yet – at the moment, the Bundeswehr relies on voluntary applicants. The right to refuse military service on grounds of conscience also remains unchanged.
More and more Germans are using this right: by the end of October, the relevant federal office had received more than 3,000 applications for conscientious objection – both from people who did not serve, as well as people who were already soldiers and reservists. This means the number of conscientious objectors has reached a new high since membership was suspended in 2011.
This article was originally written in German.
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