Since I´m only doing some weekend service and 4-8 weeks per year, I consider myself more a student at the University of Hamburg. ;-)
Btw, I´m one of those guarding AF facilities, the infantry of the Luftwaffe (the only soldiers within the AF, lol).
Sure, there may be reasonable criticism concerning the EF-2000 (Typhoon). Nevertheless, there´s a need to get a fighter jet for CA and AI. I don´t think that the EF-2000 will be used for TASMO, although the Navy will loose its own fighter jets (Tornado).
What´s wrong with pistols? They can be pretty helpful to keep your guys in the battle, lol. Just kidding. Our weapons are ok. I cannot complain about our personal equipment, ok, a GPS for everybody would be great, but .. you know how it is.
The draft is nearly at an end here. The government gets us ready to draft the last recruits in 2010, thus will mean the end of civilian service for hospitals, retirement homes, etc too. I´m not content with that. The current status of volunteers being sent to the foreign missions and making out the largest part of our army and the other part being soldiers of compelling military service for 9 months wasn´t bad at all. The draft makes sure that we have a fast and large Reserve for disasters like floods, or even WMD´s used against our population. Even the permanent protection of critical points like power and water supply stations would be possible with a relative strong Reserve force. And, we don´t know what will be in 10 years. Maybe Russia turns out to get aggressive and hungry for more land, despite the nuclear deterrence.
It´s not that bad to have a sizeable Reserve... it´s also a contribution to our homeland defense, which is a necessity according to our constitution.
My last hope is that a new government will rethink the whole issue. Once that the draft has ended, it´ll be difficult to re-establish it.
Respectfully,
Michael
That is true. There is some pressure here on the part of the Democratic Party to reestablish the draft, primarily because if Bush did it, it would resurrect the antiwar violence of the sixties. Since most of the Dems now in office are of that era, they would love to relive their youth.
Bush isn't stupid enough to give them their wish, of course. I would say there is no chance politically of setting up a draft system unless there were some really dramatic event to occur, and if such a thing were to occur, there would be so many volunteers that the draft would be unnecessary.
My relatives were from Hessen, I hope one day to visit Germany.
I enjoy reading military history and believe that German troops are some of the finest to have ever stepped onto the battlefield.
Take care.