The number of Bundeswehr recruits under the age of 18 has dropped for the first time in five years, according to local media reports. Some politicians have called for a ban on minors in the military.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Schulze
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The German army recruited 20 percent fewer minors in 2018 compared to the previous year, local media reported Monday.
Quoting figures from the Defense Ministry, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily revealed that 1,679 under-18s enlisted in the Bundeswehr in 2018, down from a record 2,128 in 2017.
Parliamentary Armed Forces Commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels welcomed the development, emphasizing that the recruitment of minors "must remain the exception."
The Bundeswehr was at a loss to explain the drop, the first since 2013.
"Nothing has changed in the recruitment practices of the Bundeswehr," a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said.
According to Left party politician Nobert Müller, public criticism of the army is likely why "so many young people and their parents have been dissuaded from the idea." The federal lawmaker called for a ban on recruiting under-18s as youth protection laws could not be guaranteed in army barracks.
Germany currently has a volunteer army. General conscription was suspended in 2011 after Berlin decided to professionalize its troops. Prior to this decision, all young males were obligated to either serve in the armed forces or perform an alternative service for a limited period of time in civilian areas
Germans wishing to enter the military but be at least 17 years old, and if they are still underage, they require permission from their parents. The Bundeswehr has reported that 60 percent of its minor recruits turn 18 by the end of their six-month probationary period. Until they turn 18, soldiers are not allowed to be deployed abroad and may only use a weapon during specific training sessions.
Germany's NATO missions
Since West Germany's accession to NATO, Berlin has supported numerous operations involving the trans-Atlantic alliance. Since 1990, Germany's Bundeswehr has been deployed on "out of area" missions as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Germany's role in NATO
West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission
In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/H. Delic
Keeping the peace in Kosovo
Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V.Xhemaj
Patrolling the Aegean Sea
In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M.Schreiber
Nearly two decades in Afghanistan
In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Germany withdrew the last of its troops in June 2021 as part of the US-led exit from Afghanistan.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Niedringhaus
German tanks in Lithuania
Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania since 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation," according to NATO.
