900,000 additional troops
Reservists’ Association praises Strack-Zimmermann idea
02.06.2024, 01:17
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In view of Russia’s rearmament, defence expert Strack-Zimmermann proposes strengthening the German army with almost a million reservists. While the Association of Reservists approves of the idea, the SPD and the Greens want nothing to do with it.
The chairman of the Reservists’ Association, Patrick Sensburg, welcomed the proposal by FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann to activate 900,000 reservists in view of the threat from Russia. “The chairwoman of the Defense Committee is taking up the idea of the Reservists’ Association, and that is a good thing!” he told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “We have great potential among the existing reservists. Many have even made a declaration of voluntary service. Unfortunately, the Bundeswehr has not taken this into account in recent years.” The Reservists’ Association is therefore currently working on a concept of how it can support the Bundeswehr in this. This applies, among other things, to the checking of health status by licensed doctors who are also reservists.
Strack-Zimmermann told the Funke media group: “Putin is preparing his people for war and is positioning them against the West. We therefore need to become capable of defending ourselves as quickly as possible.” She called for “the approximately 900,000 reservists we have in Germany to be activated.” They would first have to be registered. The Bundeswehr has not been registering soldiers who have retired from active service for decades. “If we could recruit just half of them with their corresponding expertise as reservists, that would be an incredible asset.”
SPD and Greens against
Strack-Zimmermann’s mobilization proposal was met with little enthusiasm by the coalition partners of the traffic light coalition. The defense policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Wolfgang Hellmich, told the “Tagesspiegel”: “We are well aware of the threat posed by Putin. Ms. Strack-Zimmermann does not need a special reminder of this.” He continued: “The number of 900,000 reservists that should be mobilized according to the proposal is completely unfounded and misleading. We should focus our efforts on further expanding the active reserve and recruiting and training new forces – just as Boris Pistorius proposes to strengthen national and alliance defense.”
Terry Reintke, the Green Party’s top candidate for the European elections, rejected Strack-Zimmermann’s proposal in a nutshell. “The reserve is an important element of our security for serious times. Ms. Strack-Zimmermann’s election campaign does not fall under serious times,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”.