Impending shortage of materials
No joke: Norwegian soldiers are supposed to leave socks, bras and underpants for their successors
Okay, the specimens shouldn’t look that bad in Norway. But it is true that soldiers should leave their underwear for their successors there (symbolic picture)
© Nicolas Zonvi / Agroscope / DPA
Soldiers in Norway are expected to wear their predecessors’ underwear in the future. Sounds funny, but has a serious background: material shortage due to the corona pandemic. A soldier’s representative even sees the security of his comrades at risk because of this.
It is well known that the Bundeswehr is struggling with problems due to inadequate equipment. But in Norway the problem seems to be even more dramatic. In the future, military service providers will leave underpants, bras and socks for their successors at the end of their service life. “That helps us to reuse this part of the clothing. We just don’t have enough in stock,” said army spokesman Hans Meisingset the public broadcaster NRK. The background is therefore the shortage of materials in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Previously, after their release, those doing military service were allowed to keep the underwear handed out at the beginning of their training from the barracks; the return was voluntary. However, factory closures and transport problems in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic have led to significant disruptions in supply chains, as NRK reported.
After all: Army spokesman Meisingset assured: “The textiles are washed, cleaned and checked. What we give the soldiers is in good condition”.
Soldiers ‘representatives believe that the soldiers’ security is at risk
Eirik Sjohelle Eiksund, a representative of the conscripts, criticized the shortage of materials in an interview with the specialist medium Forsvarets Forum. It could have a negative impact on military operations and “in the worst case” endanger the security of soldiers.
In Norway there is still compulsory military service. Around 8,000 young men and women are enlisted in the armed forces every year. Norway lies on the northern outer border of NATO and shares a border of almost 200 kilometers with Russia in the northeast.