.
The Bundeswehr has 184,000 active personnel. Some of them are bound to not meet expectations and requirements. A handful of extremists and nutjobs are to be expected in such a large personnel pool.
The Bundeswehr has 184,000 active personnel. Some of them are bound to not meet expectations and requirements. A handful of extremists and nutjobs are to be expected in such a large personnel pool.
There are higher expectations regarding officers and NCOs Feldwebel or higher, but I understand the requirements for a Feldwebel career have been eroded by the 1990's already. Some bad apples may even make it to officer rank, though at the very least the professional (not limited time volunteer) officers should NOT be extremists or nutjobs, for the organisation has seen them in action for 12 years already.
I don't blame anyone for having a decoration MP 40 in his room, either. Yes, that gun was introduced and used by the Wehrmacht (nazified German military 1935-1945). So was the MG42 as well, but we re-labelled it "MG3" and continue to use it to this day despite its obsolescence.* So was the P38 pistol as well, and we re-labelled it "P1" and used it well into the 1990's. And then there's the K98 - iconic rifle of the Wehrmacht (based on a very late 19th century design) and still in ceremonial use. Our federal government literally greets foreign dignitaries with soldiers handling the K98. A MP 40 is an ugly and tasteless decoration, but otherwise nothing bad in itself.
There IS a limit, though. Extremists and nutjobs that were recognised as such and not removed over years despite multiple officers knowing? THAT is a systemic issue. It's not necessarily a Bundeswehr-wide systemic issue, but it's unforgivable and should have severe consequences. A systemic issue means that the bureaucracy should be punished, not just individuals. The bureaucracy should be conditioned to fear to NOT intervene against nutjobs and extremists. I've read that the disbanding of a company was considered the ultimate humiliation. Oh boy, whoever claimed so has no concept of my creativity in such a regard. I would have dragged hundreds of senior officers to an event where they get to stand at attention for hours like recruits, and watch not just a final "Zapfenstreich" disbanding ceremony. They would watch a defilement of the unit. Scratch that, I would have the entire formation defiled and disbanded in shame. And I would let them know that this won't be the last such event if they ever dare to not do their job to minimum requirements.
Having mentioned this; I would not disband the KSK for its scandals. I would disband the KSK for having been a stupid concept and appalling waste of resources all along. That, too, deserves defilement to punish the bureaucracy.
related:
*: Too heavy, very suboptimal rate of fire, no proper mounting for a night sight or magnifying sight, changing the hot barrel requires protective gloves. There were machinegun designs without these faults even before the MG 42 was invented.
.
Why did this detoriation since the 90s happen?
ReplyDeleteI always thought causing lots of paperwork was more effective than humiliation. Your approach might cause a dislike that doesn't result in the intended goal.
There was a rank inflation. It was made too easy to become a Feldwebel.
DeleteI say humiliation because the ordinary measures do not satisfy. They do not adjust the bureaucracy's self-interest. Bureaucracies crave respect and prestige (among other things). Humiliation threatens this directly, so avoiding humiliation becomes part of its self-interest.
It's a very cheap approach and the harm done to morale should be sharply limited by firing the humiliated leadership and disbanding the humiliated organisational entities. Both often makes sense anyway.
In the 90s I heard often "either I become an officer or I object" and some of them did become officers. It's a cultural drift that nobody wants to fill the lowest ranks in any business.
DeleteMy guess is that our increasing wealth inequality makes the lowest ranked jobs those with the least pay increase. In private enterprises there's also an abundance of managers that could go with less prestigious titles. Having specialists for certain fields seems a way forward in private enterprises.
Maybe we are all going to feel like little masters, when everybody gets some real or virtual robot slaves to boss around.
You can thank your lucky stars you don't have an Eddie Gallagher in the Bundeswehr.
ReplyDeleteWell, we've got one who (allegedly) built his private militia, stole munitions, is a neonazi (all allegedly).
DeleteWell, in the terminology of poker: I'll call and raise you Charles Graner/Lynndie England, John Hatley, Haditha, the Maywand Murders, the Kandahar Massacre, and Mahmudiyah Rape of a 14 year old.
ReplyDeleteWould you conduct the defilement and disbanding ceremony, like the French did to poor innocent Captain Alfred Dreyfus (minus the banishment to Devils Island)?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g0yuygj9X0
And what is your take on this former foreign legionary's opinion on the matter, namely that the Bundeswehr needs to have the traditions of the Wehrmacht and that the KSK must be retained because no other force can deal with a potential hostage situation?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MokZOJaxwoM&t=1s
Well, one example: Korvette 130. A most useless "warship" class in a useless navy.
DeleteI would have all Korvette 130 units decommissioned and put up for sale. In case nobody buys them, I would have them stripped of equipment, drained of oil, and then force all admirals to watch those vessels be SINKEXed by the Luftwaffe so the navy never ever again dares to ask for useless vessels just for the sake of getting vessels. There would be NO "replacement hulls" and the personnel establishment would be cut accordingly, including overhead.
The hostage situation thing is bollocks. I won't even watch that link. Every German knows that we have the GSG9 for this, a federal police unit that can be employed abroad just as well as if not easier than the KSK.
Besides, only an idiot would support a 1,100 personnel establishment for the potential case of some hostage situation sometime - something that didn't happen in more than two decades of its existence.
"Would you conduct the defilement and disbanding ceremony, like the French did to poor innocent Captain Alfred Dreyfus"
DeleteSorry, that is a stupid strawman. Dreyfus' only "crime" was that he was a jew, his punishment was a disgrace.
The officers in the KSK have sworn an oath to protect the German constitution, to let men operate in their units who want to undermine/destroy this constitution is therefore something that should be punished.
Ulenspiegel
Your little omnipotence fantasies in which you can leave officers in formation hourly land like a leader, in spite of the fact that in this constitutional state - as it is - it is not even rudimentarily possible to move conspicuous soldiers just against their will. A lawyer can be called in immediately against anything and everything, legal proceedings can be initiated and endless legal disputes can be fought.
ReplyDeleteYour naive fantasy that you always have in these things in all honors: nothing is further from reality than your ideas. And it is precisely this extreme legalism that is the systemic failure, the cause of these abuses and at the same time also the greatest strength of the bureaucracy.
You could not even begin to enforce much smaller punitive measures. Already much earlier, lawyers and the law would pull the floor from under your feet and in the end the mere attempt at your naive childish ideas would only lead to you being deported into complete insignificance.
In a world of legal expenses insurance, lies and deceit and mere career thinking and extreme egoism, there is no longer even a place for people like you.
Nonense. Soldiers stood at attention for hours for decades during ceremonies. You merely need a job purpose (dienstlicher Zweck).
DeleteThe military doesnt have a far right problem, society does. Military draws its ranks from society.
ReplyDeleteI thought the consensus was that MG3 is pretty good when mounted to a vehicle, still true?
Use in or on a vehicle alleviates some of the issues, but that depends on the mounting.
DeleteI've always wondered what makes special forces so "special" anyway.
ReplyDeleteGranted, they have higher mental and physical requirements than your average soldier and receive better training, but basically they are still just light infantry.
Maybe it would be a better approach, to give the regular mechanized and light infantry the kind of training that currently only the special forces receive.
For instance, if the intense live-fire training in a shoot house is useful for the special forces it's just as useful for the regulars.
Other things like parachuting -which by the way is one of the easiest skills to learn, children and seniors do it all the time- could be trained within a few days on an ad hoc basis.
Additionally, officers and ncos could better assess the talents of individual soldiers, who otherwise wouldn't have undergone that training.
But of course this would mean, that the soldiers wouldn't have their egos stroked by being part of an "elite".