The Reservist Association of the German Armed Forces has called for the government to raise the age limit for army reservists from 65 to 70 years.
As Bastian Ernst, the association’s new president, told news agency RND today, this was necessary to counter the army’s manpower shortage problem:
“We should raise the age limit for reservists from 65 to 70. In our view, this makes sense in many respects. After all, the retirement age is rising in other areas too.
“People are staying fit for longer. We should not waste the resources offered by people with life and professional experience,” Ernst said.
“And if we are complaining about a shortage of young recruits at one end of the age pyramid, we should also make improvements at the other end.”
The German Ministry of Defence, under defence minister Boris Pistorius of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), is currently working on a new law regulating reservist service, due to be submitted to parliament in the summer.
Tomorrow, Pistorius is scheduled to present Germany’s new army strategy.
Ernst, an MP for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), would also like to see the upcoming law do away with the principle of voluntary reservist drills.
Currently, both reservists and their employers need to give their consent if the army wants to recruit reservists for drills.
Ernst said: “We must do away with the principle of voluntary participation on the part of employers. They should have no right to object when reservists are called up for exercises. However, we should not force the reservists themselves.”
He added that the army should be enabled to plan better how many reservists it wants to train and when.
“Then employers and employees can prepare for this. A secure Germany is also in the interests of businesses. And without reservists, deterrence will be a struggle.”
The Reservist Association is the largest association of former soldiers in the German army and counts around 110,000 members.
The army reserves comprise all former soldiers of the German Bundeswehr who are not deemed too old or unfit for service. They can be ordered to support the army in various roles in the case of natural catastrophes or war.
