←back to thread

Germany votes to bring in voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds

(www.bbc.com)
126 points petermcneeley | 4 comments | 06 Dec 25 19:19 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
bethekidyouwant ◴[06 Dec 25 23:21 UTC] No.46177546[source]▶
“The change means that all 18-year-olds in Germany will be sent a questionnaire from January 2026 asking if they are interested and willing to join the armed forces. The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women.“ - all men have to fill out and return a form, I suppose this will work to increase recruitment. Doesn’t seem very controversial.
replies(6): >>46177581 #>>46177586 #>>46177606 #>>46177718 #>>46177787 #>>46177922 #
alistairSH ◴[06 Dec 25 23:28 UTC] No.46177586[source]▶
They only recently (2011?) ended mandatory conscription so this is a pretty big about-face.
replies(1): >>46177829 #
aleph_minus_one ◴[07 Dec 25 00:01 UTC] No.46177829[source]▶
Compulsory military service (or alternative national service) never ended in Germany; in 2011 it was only suspended.
replies(1): >>46178060 #
1. alistairSH ◴[07 Dec 25 00:29 UTC] No.46178060[source]▶
I don’t know the details… does the suspension make the current state in Germany similar to the Selective Service requirement in the US? Or is it “easy” for the German government to establish a draft?
replies(1): >>46178148 #
2. aleph_minus_one ◴[07 Dec 25 00:43 UTC] No.46178148[source]▶
> does the suspension make the current state in Germany similar to the Selective Service requirement in the US?

I don't know how the Selective Service requirement in the US works, so I can't answer this question.

> Or is it “easy” for the German government to establish a draft?

Such a (temporary) suspension can hypothetically terminated at any time by the government. The question is basically how the population will react. I guess if the suspension of the general conscription would be terminated by the government, there would be really furious public rallies (and I am rather certain that my boss would immediately attempt to approve a vacation request if I wanted to attend such a rally in Berlin if it happened during the work week - just as an "innocent" kind of support for this cause from behind the lines :-) ) because multiple generations got really radicalized against compulsory military service (I wrote about this topic at https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=46177817 ).

This is why the German government currently attempts to approach the whole topic of quitting the suspension of compulsory military service so indirectly.

replies(1): >>46178234 #
3. alistairSH ◴[07 Dec 25 00:57 UTC] No.46178234[source]▶
In the US, men have to register for potential draft within a few months of turning 18. Women still exempt. But instituting an active draft wound take an act of congress and be signed by president - very unlikely to pass for the same reason you mention in German - the population likely wouldn’t stand for it.
replies(1): >>46179846 #
4. platevoltage ◴[07 Dec 25 07:14 UTC] No.46179846{3}[source]▶
This current US administration, who didn't win a majority in the first place, is under water on every issue, and is currently on a mission gerrymander everywhere they can in order to not lose congress in a year. What the people are willing to stand for doesn't matter.