Mold and Lecks: The German barracks are in a sad state ᐉ News from Facti.bg – World World

The former training center in the barracks in Birkenfeld, Rhineland -Palatinat, is overgrown with Moss – the last soldiers left the area eight years ago. The 2nd Airborne Division had previously been dissolved there, which was dissolved in 2013. The facilities have been dismantled and an industrial park with office buildings and apartments must be built on the site. There is no back, writes the German public media.

As part of the reforms in the Bundeswehr and the abolition of the mandatory military service, 31 barracks have been closed in Germany since 2011, and other units have been reduced. Some of the earlier barracks are used as dormitories for refugees. There are currently 275 Bundeswehr bases in Germany compared to 400 before, reports ARD.

Mold and urgent need for renovation

Many of the federal base bases are in a “miserable state” and urgently need to be renovated, notes that the representative of the Bundestag for the condition of the army Eva Högl. She noticed that many buildings, especially training and sleep quartals, are in extremely poor condition: mold, leaks, crumbling plaster. The renovation of one of the barracks in Germersheim, Rhineland-Palatinat, will cost more than 125 million euros alone. And the work could only be completed after 2030 at the earliest.

According to Eva Högl's report, the administrations in the respective provinces, which are often very overloaded, are mainly responsible for the implementation of construction work. The Bundeswehr bases are located on around 1,500 properties all over Germany, and the total number of buildings is over 35,000.

Another reason for the poor condition of many basics is the fact that it was first decided to close them, then the decisions were reversed. In addition, there was no investments or renovation, further reports.

Experts: bureaucracy paralysis change

“What is available is usually in poor condition,” confirms Joachim Weber from the University of Bonn, a security expert. The main problem is often the usual German bureaucracy: rules and requirements paralyze the necessary processes. The current global situation requires anything but a waste of time.

A year after Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had submitted his plans to restructure the Bundeswehr, the situation remains bad. One of the goals of the minister was to increase the number of soldiers to at least 203,000 by 2031. In view of the fact that the Bundeswehr has had around 181,000 soldiers for about ten years, this goal will probably not be achieved soon. According to the report of the Bundestag Plenipotentia, the personnel situation remains “worrying” for the state of the army. According to the Union of Reservists, there is a shortage of 20,000 soldiers this year alone, reports ARD.

“Where do all these people come from?”

Security expert Joachim Weber doubts that a significant increase in the Bundeswehr could work on the basis of the current system. He therefore supports “any form of return to mandatory military service”. According to Weber, the voluntary military service model does not work – despite great efforts, the Bundeswehr cannot hire enough recruits. The number of conscripts who terminate their contracts prematurely and leave the army remains high.

“If it had been impossible to attract tens of thousands of people to the barracks in the past three years, where could they come in the future?” Asks Weber, quoted by ARD.

The debate about the return of the mandatory military service has meanwhile been used up again. The coalition agreement of the new ruling parties – conservative and social democrats – currently excludes mandatory military service, but the topic is not closed, according to the German media.

A Herculean task

If this happens at a later date, the Bundeswehr will be faced with a Herculular task, says Joachim Weber. The reason: The entire system that is needed has been dismantled in the meantime: from military registration to administration to the accommodation of such a large number of people in the barracks. There is also a lack of trainers to train the new recruits. In other words, it will take a lot of time and a lot of money to rebuild the system.

Author: Oliver Bemelmann (ARD)