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Germany requires a new form of military service to meet its growing defence needs, a leading general has said.<\/p>\n
Harald Gante, a top lieutenant general in the German Army, told dpa in comments released on Sunday that the country’s armed forces – known collectively as the Bundeswehr – cannot rely solely on volunteers to fulfil their list of tasks.<\/p>\n
“All the additional tasks that we have to deal with today in the area of homeland security, and national and alliance defence, will not work without significantly more personnel – and that can only be done with conscripts,” he said.<\/p>\n
Germany must be ready to deter Russia, argued Gante.<\/p>\n
“There should be no false illusions. If the Russian Federation has the possibility and the impression that it can restore its old Soviet empire with its spheres of influence, I am convinced they would try it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“And there is exactly one way to stop them, and that is credible deterrence,” Gante added.<\/p>\n
The Bundeswehr is eagerly awaiting the next German government’s decisions on whether to reintroduce military service, which was suspended in Germany in 2011.<\/p>\n
This year, the army is expected to train 2,500 additional troops, but Gante argued that further investment is needed to bolster military infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“The problem is not the trainers we have today, but the problem is the infrastructure,” he said.<\/p>\n
“If I have no barracks, no beds, no company buildings in which to house the soldiers, then I cannot recruit them in the first place,” said the lieutenant general.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n