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

(www.bbc.com)
126 points petermcneeley | 2 comments | 06 Dec 25 19:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.41s | source
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nicbou ◴[07 Dec 25 00:00 UTC] No.46177825[source]▶
To offer a bit of context, the same government just voted to raise current pensions at the expense of steep taxation hikes for current workers, made massive cuts to social services, and is now discussing military service.

This generation is rightfully feeling like they're getting a sore deal.

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sunshine-o ◴[07 Dec 25 09:25 UTC] No.46180364[source]▶
Yes and the question is who does the German state really target to enroll in their "new" army. Because "This generation" has a lot of clearly distinct groups.

So it could be:

- the native young population who are now flocking in the AfD

- the people fighting the AfD in the street

- the second generation immigrants born there

- the very recent immigrants

- a mix of all

Because the alchemy of creating a working army and "esprit de corps" is much harder than in a corporation. You cannot just take a modern managerial approach to creating an army.

A mix of all will end up obviously in a disaster but selecting on any group will end up in a civil war or coup.

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nicbou ◴[07 Dec 25 10:41 UTC] No.46180752[source]▶
I'm in the "recent" immigrants group. I qualify for citizenship since a few years, but this Wehrpflicht nonsense is why I haven't sent my application yet.

I don't think that the social situation is as bad as you describe. I just think that people generally don't feel keen to put their life on the line for Germany.

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speedbird ◴[07 Dec 25 16:13 UTC] No.46182759[source]▶
I think if you want the benefits of living in a country then you should be willing to defend it. This attitude of entitlement without responsibility is exactly what gives migrants a bad name.
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1. rixed ◴[08 Dec 25 15:53 UTC] No.46193742[source]▶
To add to what nicbou said, I would like to question the idea that the best way to defend a country is to enlist and fight a war. At the contrary, many are of the opinion that to defend Europe we have to oppose this recent trend of spending billions into the unproductive war machine.

When was the last time germans lined up to enlist in the army? How much good was it for their country?

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2. hilios ◴[08 Dec 25 19:06 UTC] No.46196285[source]▶
>At the contrary, many are of the opinion that to defend Europe we have to oppose this recent trend of spending billions into the unproductive war machine.

We've tried that after the end of the cold war, now there is an active war in Europe. You can not unilaterally stop military spending if there are other countries ready to take advantage of it.

>When was the last time germans lined up to enlist in the army?

That would have been during the height of the Cold War, the resulting Reunification does have its drawbacks, but certainly beats getting overrun by the Soviet Union.