Military: Högl does not believe in the goal of increasing the size of the Bundeswehr

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Military
Högl does not believe in the goal of increasing the size of the Bundeswehr

The Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl (SPD), advocates telling applicants clearly that they must also be prepared to give their lives if they decide to become soldiers. photo

© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa

21 percent of newly hired applicants dropped out last year. “Something is going wrong,” says the military representative – and expresses doubts about the current personnel target.

The military representative Eva Högl does not believe that the Bundeswehr can be increased to 203,000 soldiers by 2031 as planned. “Actually, I’m always optimistic, but I don’t think we can do it by 2031,” Högl told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” and the Bonn “General-Anzeiger”. There will be a new working group for personnel in the Ministry of Defense because it is clear that the current number of applicants will not be enough.

The Commissioner for the Armed Forces also advocated making it clear to applicants that they must also be prepared to give their lives if they decide to become soldiers. “This has to be clearly stated to young people,” said Högl. “Because then we attract those applicants who are really aware of what it means to be a soldier.” We are looking for “good people”. “I focus more on quality than quantity.”

A dropout rate of 21 percent of newly hired applicants last year was “simply too much,” said Högl. For army regular soldiers it was even 33 percent. “That’s too high, something is wrong.” The reasons for the termination would also have to be asked in more detail.

dpa

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