In Baden-Württemberg, military personnel are prohibited from coming to schools to promote military service, so they actively use other communication channels. But teenagers regularly receive the same letters in other federal states. The Bundeswehr has a chronic shortage of recruits, and boys and girls aged 16-17 who have not yet decided on their future profession are the most attractive target audience for the military.
In order to avoid possible questions about the legality of these mailings, both from the recipients themselves and from their parents, at the end of each letter there is an addition in small print indicating that the personal data of the teenagers have been obtained in accordance with all legal norms – from the public services, which annually transmit to the Bundeswehr information on citizens who will soon reach the age of majority. Thus, young Germans are at the same time reminded that universal conscription in the country has not been completely abolished, but only suspended, and that the army is still closely monitoring potential recruits.
But letters and the annual open day are far from the only ways the Bundeswehr tries to solve the personnel problem. The German army spends tens of millions of euros on advertising every year. The competition for advertising agencies announced last May by the Ministry of Defense provides for a budget of 200 million euros over the next four years. As noted by the trade publication Horizont, this is the largest public tender in the field of marketing in Germany this year.
Budgets are spent on military “career centers” operating throughout the country, summer camps for young people, various events, outdoor advertising, attractive websites, video shoots and entire series. In 2016, the Bundeswehr launched the online series “Recruits”, which tells the life of recruits and costs eight million euros. It was followed by series on German army operations in Mali, on special forces service, on female soldiers – all also with multi-million dollar budgets. Admittedly, not all of these films were particularly successful. The first series of “Recruits” about the novelty effect attracted increased attention, but public interest in military cinematography quickly dried up.
Germans for the most part have no special feelings for the Bundeswehr, unless indifference is seen as such. Until recently, most people in the country preferred not to remember that they had an army. And if they did, then, as a rule, for reasons that were not the most positive for the image of the Bundeswehr – for example, in connection with sending troops to another operation foreign country, where the actions of the German army often caused the death of the civilian population. Because of such incidents, military personnel in Germany itself even tried not to appear in public in uniform – it was quite possible to come across the word “killer!” Thrown in the face.
Recently, however, the army’s image has improved somewhat. Played a role and massive publicity, and the tension of the military-political situation. By the way, the Bundeswehr actively exploits this tension, and its latest advertising campaign, under the slogan “Do what is really important”, refers directly to the conflict in Ukraine. But fundamentally, the mood of German society has not changed – it still remains predominantly pacifist, and young people still do not feel much desire to join the army. Only around 10% of young Germans see the Bundeswehr as an attractive employer.
Therefore, in addition to directly attracting recruits, advertisers of the Ministry of Defense are faced with another task – to increase the “visibility” of the army in society. Military chaplains and musicians, for example, are sent to German Evangelical Church Congress events, although they are not very well received there. In German cities, entire buses and trams are painted in Bundeswehr advertising camouflage. The Germans don’t like it too much either, but they remember that Germany also has an army. Even the military themselves were visually integrated into the ad campaign. Since 2020, they have been able to travel by train for free, but only on condition that they travel in uniform. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense did not particularly hide the fact that free travel is not at all a plus, but an increase in the very visibility of the Bundeswehr.
But despite all the efforts and budgets, the German army has not yet been able to achieve truly tangible results, namely an increase in the number of recruits. Its population has stagnated around 180,000 for many years, and so far there is no sign of any upward movement in this figure. The Bundeswehr, however, urgently needs at least 20,000 additional troops to fulfill its NATO obligations and provide the alliance with two constantly ready divisions. But it seems that even the Ministry of Defense itself does not believe that recruits will be able to recruit in the required quantity. The date when the size of the Bundeswehr should reach 203,000 people “is constantly moving to the right”, and recently the head of the department, Boris Pistorius, said that the required number of soldiers in the German army is unlikely to be either by 2031.
In the meantime
This week, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius promised to deploy a Bundeswehr brigade to Lithuania permanently. According to the minister, 4,000 German soldiers and their families will go to the Baltic republic as soon as all the necessary infrastructure is built there. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, meanwhile, said his country would be ready to receive the German brigade in 2026.
But, according to Die Zeit, the Bundeswehr doubts that Pistorius’ promise can be kept. Most servicemen will not want to move to Lithuania for permanent residence, including for family reasons. It will be difficult for military spouses to find suitable employment there, and the level of education in children’s schools may not be high enough. According to one of the senior German officers quoted by the publication, it will be “extremely difficult” to find volunteers to send to Lithuania. If the military is sent by order, then many of them will simply prefer to leave the army. The Bundeswehr is not the only employer in Germany, and finding another job, given the acute personnel shortage in the civilian sector, is no longer too difficult.
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