“Permanent availability”
Breuer: “In the Bundeswehr, the downsizing generation has to rethink”
03/23/2023, 8:57 p.m
With his first major personnel decision, Defense Minister Pistorius replaced the head of the Bundeswehr. The new Inspector General must turn the Bundeswehr inside out. While the focus in recent years has been on foreign assignments, a new attitude is now needed, he said. This is overdue.
Germany’s top military sees a reorganization of the Bundeswehr and parts of the Ministry of Defense as the most urgent tasks. The structure of the army is largely geared towards international crisis management, i.e. deployments abroad, said Inspector General Carsten Breuer to the “Mirror“. But after the “Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, we should have made the troops fit for national and alliance defense more quickly. We will now tackle this immediately.” It is now “particularly important to streamline the structures and accelerate processes and to live the corresponding mindset”. It now requires “constant commitment”.
The turning point declared by Chancellor Olaf Scholz immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not just a question of the budget. “At least as important is the turning point in people’s minds,” he continued. “In the Bundeswehr, many officers and non-commissioned officers have been used to downsizing the troops, downsizing structures or even dissolving them in parts for years. That’s a downsizing generation. They have to rethink things now.”
“Staffs Leading Troops”
The “structure of the ministry is still based on international crisis management,” he said. The question now is how the house “can lead a force that is focused on national and alliance defense”. It is important that “nothing will slow down” as a result of the conversion, he said. “We can no longer afford lengthy coordination processes. We have to be able to lead quickly and purposefully.”
For the ministry and all levels of management, it applies that those involved must be empowered to “take responsibility”. “No military administrations are required, but staffs that can lead troops,” said the 58-year-old.
Breuer took up his post as Inspector General of the Bundeswehr almost a week ago. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had recently awarded him the fourth star. As the highest-ranking soldier, Breuer succeeds General Eberhard Zorn, who has held the post since April 2018.
The 58-year-old Breuer was previously commander of the new territorial command of the Bundeswehr, which he established. He also gained notoriety as head of the Corona crisis team in the Chancellery. As Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Breuer is not only the superior of all soldiers in the armed forces under his command, but also a military advisor to the Federal Government and part of the management of the Ministry of Defense.