Germany boosts military pay to attract new recruits

Germany has long limited military activity to peacekeeping and self-defense, and restricted both the size of the military and its budget because of the country’s Nazi past. But now, that’s changing. The war in Ukraine has been going for four years and the U.S. has its attention more focused on Iran and other conflicts, so Germany is trying to enlarge its military by making enlistment more attractive to young people.

At a job fair in Berlin, a teenager approached the military booth to ask about what kinds of jobs he might be eligible for. The recruiter, dressed in camouflage fatigues, ran through a series of questions: Do you have a German passport? No criminal convictions? No drug use? The recruiter found his answers satisfactory.

“Then, all you have to do is decide which part of the military you want to work in,” he said.

The recruiter’s hard sell was part of Germany’s effort to grow its armed forces quickly. The plan is to increase its force over the next decade to nearly 500,000 active duty and reservist soldiers, which is roughly twice the number it has now.

Gustav Oelfke will graduate from high school this spring. At first unsure of what he wanted to do afterward, he signed up for 12 months in the Air Force, starting in September.

Germany recently increased salary and benefits for new recruits, and Oelfke said this was part of what attracted him.

“It’s just a very well-paid job right now,” he said, sitting in a park near his school, “especially for someone without any training or anything. You can be very lucky to make so much money in one year.”

Oelfke is worried about the war in Ukraine and possibly having to fight there. But he said he has also come to see that Germany has freedoms that are worth protecting.

Not everybody agrees that the military is the way to do that, though. On the same day as the job fair, thousands of students all over the country marched to protest talk of a possible draft.

A new law now requires all 18-year-old men to fill out a questionnaire about their fitness to serve; the questionnaire is voluntary for women.

“I have no reason to shoot another human being that I’ve never met and that I have no reason to kill, just because someone told me to,” said Richard Burczyk, who skipped school in Berlin to join the march. “And I don’t want to do that.”

He plans to do a year of civil service after he graduates and before he goes to university to study chemistry.

Last year, the military hired 25,000 new people, which is the highest number since 2011. But more than 3,000 others registered as conscientious objectors — also a record high.