Carsten Breuer, the German Chief of Defence, told BBC's Radio 4 an additional 100,000 soldiers would be needed to ensure the country's ability to defend itself as a belligerent Russia continues to roil the continent.
Defence chiefs have been looking to increase the size of the armed forces since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but have fallen short of even an initial target of 20,000, as Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...looks ahead to further unrest.
The Daily Mail reports Breuer warned Russia could attack NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
territory in as little as four years and he is calling for a massive troop buildup — achievable, he says, only through compulsory service through conscription.
''We won't get this additional 100,000 soldiers without having one or the other, a model of conscription,'' Germany's highest ranking soldier told the programme.
Asked whether ''some form'' of conscription was ''necessary'' for Germany to defend itself, he concurred: ''Absolutely. Absolutely.''
''We are threatened by Russia,'' Breuer acknowledged in his comments to Radio 4.
''We are threatened by Putin, and we have to do whatever is needed to do to deter, and by building up a strong defence line then you deter best.''
Asked how much time and money was needed to achieve Germany's defence goals, he said it was ''more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared.''
''The sooner we are prepared, the better it is.''
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had suggested in December that Germany could increase the size of its armed forces by 50,000 to 230,000 in total.
When I first went in the Army, back when dinosaurs ruled the world, it was mostly draftees. When you joined up (by whatever method), you took a battery of aptitude tests, primary of which was "General Technical," which was kinda sorta an IQ test. Score high and there were whole bunches of opportunities available.
Score below a certain cutoff and you were destined for infantry. Those poor guys were known as "McNamara's Morons." Most are dead now, and not from old age. They also accounted for the majority of serious disciplinary problems (fragging, anyone?), and drug problems.
Infantry, in fact any combat arm, takes brains. Filling the ranks with dumbasses gets dumbass performance. The same applies to combat support; those are the jobs that don't involve getting shot at on a regular basis, like military police, intelligence, signals, and engineering. Much better, I think, to use the less than stellar or the draftees to do the combat service support: ordering beans and bullets, delivering same, maintenance, medical and dental, clerks, and so on.
Don't denigrate anybody's service. Obviously combat service support does require brainpower. Obviously recruitment/induction standards need to be tightened. But it could be a separate branch of service, say a two year service obligation, more relaxed physical fitness standard, a lower pay scale to save taxpayer bucks, and more of a garrison orientation.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts, having been there, done that. I think the country worked better when men grew up with the expectation of a couple years' national service.
Related:
Boris Pistorius 03/07/2025 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 6, 2025
Boris Pistorius 03/04/2025 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 3, 2025
Boris Pistorius 02/15/2025 J.D. Vance Blasts Europe's Elites to Their Sulking Faces – Slams Mass Migration, Censorship, and Champions America's Founding Values.
Boris Pistorius 03/07/2025 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 6, 2025
Boris Pistorius 03/04/2025 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 3, 2025
Boris Pistorius 02/15/2025 J.D. Vance Blasts Europe's Elites to Their Sulking Faces – Slams Mass Migration, Censorship, and Champions America's Founding Values.