Training for a new German military programme began last week, aimed at training recruits to provide temporary service to the Bundeswehr before starting their careers or studies.
Germany’s Minister of Defence, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, officially launched the Freiwilliger Wehrdienst im Heimatschutz or “voluntary military service in homeland security” programme in Berlin on Tuesday last week. The programme aims to encourage volunteers to take a year off to serve with the armed forces, before starting a career or studies.
The programme was originally announced by Kramp-Karrenbauer last summer under the motto: “Your Year for Germany.” "We came up with this programme after seeing that there were young people who were interested in joining the Bundeswehr but didn't want to tie themselves down," Kramp-Karrenbauer said.
325 new recruits started training for the new programme on Tuesday. It has proven quite popular, with around 9.000 volunteers applying for one of the 1.000 spaces that are available on the programme this year.
Volunteers that are accepted will enter three months of basic military training, which will take place across 13 locations in Germany. They will then take part in specialist training, in which they will learn how to defend different structures, like depots, apartments and bridges.
Following seven months of training, recruits will then serve five months in reserve exercises or assignments within the following six years. Recruits will be deployed as close as possible to where they live and have the opportunity to learn based on their personal interests.
Several criticisms of the new programme have been raised, ranging from concerns around giving recruits as young as 17 the opportunity to use a rifle, to the name of the programme itself. The German word Heimatschutz (or “homeland security”) has far-right connotations, which has drawn unfavourable comparisons to reports of far-right extremism in the Bundeswehr.
Kramp-Karrenbauer has defended the use of the controversial word, saying that the problem was that far-right extremists had been allowed to appropriate it. Lieutenant General Markus Laubenthal has since said that recruits would be screened to prevent anyone with far-right ideals from joining the programme.