MOSCOW. June 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Germany has not yet taken a final decision as to whether the country should retain conscription military service or shift to voluntary manning.
The command of the Bundeswehr is for the former, while there is still much rhetoric over the problem in political and social quarters, German military attache Brigadier General Peter Schafranek said in an interview with the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily, published on Monday.
He emphasized that the issue is considered from political, military, economic, and other points of view.
According to Schafranek, the Bundeswehr has 75,300 personnel conscripted for a term of nine months and 190,000 professional (contracted for a term of two to 12 years) and career military.
He said that it is neither possible to escape from the military service in the Bundeswehr for money nor by becoming a student with a university. However, he said, the command has to make sure that the civilian education of conscripts is not affected by the military service.
The salary of a private conscript within the first three months of service is EUR7.41 per day or EUR222.3 per month. A corporal-level conscript in the 4th-6th months earns EUR245.4, and in the 7th to 9th months EUR268.5 per month.
The German attache has also described the latest developments in the German army. He said that the reform has three main goals: to reduce the personnel, to improve their equipment in accordance with the new wider scope of tasks, and saving as much money as possible on the army.
He said that the operational environment had much changed in the last years, with currently more than 9,000 personnel deployed outside Germany as parts of six international operations.
This, he said, has changed the standing of both conscripts and career officers who now understand that they are likely to participate in international operations which currently do much in determining the routine duties of the Bundeswehr.