President of the German Army Reservist Association demands verification of the extent of the preparedness of former soldiers
The President of Reservist Association of Deutsche Bundeswehr, Patrick Sensburg, proposed that all former members of the German army be systematically screened for their ability to serve if called up.
In statements to the Bild newspaper, the reserve officer said that there are about 900,000 soldiers or former conscripts who hold the status of reserve soldiers and are under 65 years old.
Sensburg added, “We must urgently record their health condition and the extent of their presence in order to plan their use in internal security, national defense, and defense at the alliance level, and allow them to be trained again gradually; If only half of them are healthy, then we will have approximately the number we need of the reserve soldiers”.
The reserve soldiers in Germany are all individuals who previously performed compulsory military service and soldiers who worked in the German army for a period longer than the compulsory service, but former soldiers in the former East German army “Volksarmee – National People’s Army” who didn’t fall under this classification don’t fall under this classification.
They never served in the German Army “Bundeswehr” after the dissolution of the National People’s Army.
Sensburg, who was a member of Bundstag for the Christian Democratic Party, continued, “In the case of defense, we need a reserve to secure the country and the infrastructure and to provide logistical support to Germany’s partner countries, as well as the use of reserve soldiers in particular to compensate for the fighting forces on the front.”
Sensburg said that if Germany was attacked or became at war, “we would have to think about a second and third wave of defense, and these two waves would consist primarily of reserves”.
The German army currently is facing a problem in finding enough soldiers, and despite all efforts to attract personnel for service, the number of army personnel decreased by the end of last year to 181,500 individuals.
The declared goal of the government in Berlin is to increase the number of German army personnel to 203,000 personnel by 2031.
