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We. Serve. Germany.

In summer 2011 the Bundeswehr started a large recruitment campaign. Its motto was Wir. Dienen. Deutschland. We. Serve. Germany. Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière had presented the slogan in an interview with the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

In March 2013 the Schwäbische Zeitung reported on a panel with de Maizière and Archbishop Robert Zollitsch. The paper wrote that the word dienen sounds old-fashioned and suggests servility. De Maizière gave his own definition. Dienen ist der Einsatz für andere. To serve is to commit oneself for others.

The word is also part of the oath in Section 9 of the Soldiers Act. Ich schwöre, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland treu zu dienen und das Recht und die Freiheit des deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen, so wahr mir Gott helfe. I swear to serve the Federal Republic of Germany faithfully and to defend bravely the rights and the freedom of the German people, so help me God. The religious ending is optional.

On its 66th anniversary in November 2021, the Bundeswehr published a video under the same motto.

The Superior Investigates First

When facts suggest that a soldier has committed a breach of duty, the disciplinary superior must clear up the facts through the necessary investigation. That is § 32 of the Military Disciplinary Code. Werden Tatsachen bekannt, die den Verdacht eines Dienstvergehens rechtfertigen, so muss die oder der Disziplinarvorgesetzte den Sachverhalt durch die erforderlichen Ermittlungen aufklären.

The investigation covers the facts that incriminate the soldier, the facts that clear him, and the facts that bear on the kind and size of the measure. Before the decision, the soldier must always be asked whether he wants to say anything.

The Soldier’s Mediator

A German soldier who feels personally offended can call a Vermittler, a mediator, before filing a formal complaint, if a friendly settlement seems possible. That is § 4 of the Military Complaints Regulation. The soldier chooses a fellow soldier he personally trusts. The direct superiors of either side may not mediate.

The mediator is to learn the facts in persönlichem Benehmen mit den Beteiligten, in personal contact with those involved, and to seek a settlement. Instead, the soldier can ask the other person for an Aussprache, a talk to clear the air, and the other must let him state his view. One form is ruled out entirely. Gemeinschaftliche Beschwerden sind unzulässig. Joint complaints are not allowed.

Before the Troops

German military disciplinary law has two kinds of reprimand. The Verweis is the formal censure of a specific breach of duty. Der strenge Verweis ist der Verweis, der vor der Truppe bekannt gemacht wird. The severe reprimand is the reprimand that is announced before the troops.

Still Not Satisfactory

In December 2019 the Defense Ministry published a report on the material readiness of the Bundeswehr’s main weapon systems. Its subheading said that readiness was above average on deployments, but im Inland nach wie vor nicht zufriedenstellend, at home still not satisfactory. Average readiness was about 70 percent. Newer systems were mostly below 40 percent, in what the report called the clearly unsatisfactory range.

The report has a public part and a secret part. The public part, the ministry said, is meant to contribute to public debate and to transparency. In January 2022 the ministry reported that readiness had risen to 77 percent, but that eleven systems, most of them older, were below 50 percent.

The Weakest Result Decides

Every soldier of the Bundeswehr, of any rank, can earn the Leistungsabzeichen, the proficiency badge. It was first announced in the White Paper of 1970, and it comes in bronze, silver and gold.

The tests include a march with a 15-kilogram pack, a fitness test, swimming 100 meters in clothes, shooting and first aid. One rule sets the overall level. Die schwächste Einzelleistung bestimmt die Gesamtwertungsstufe. The weakest single result determines the overall level.

Thirty-Three Crosses for Bravery

Until 1980 the Bundeswehr had no decorations of its own. In November of that year, Minister Apel created the Ehrenzeichen der Bundeswehr, the badge of honor of the armed forces.

A decoration for bravery followed on 13 August 2008, when Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung created the Ehrenkreuz für Tapferkeit, the cross of honor for bravery. It is given for courageous, steadfast and patient conduct in exceptional danger to life and limb. By 2025 it had been awarded 33 times.

Fit for War

On 29 October 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spoke on the ZDF program Berlin direkt. Wir müssen uns wieder an den Gedanken gewöhnen, dass die Gefahr eines Krieges in Europa drohen könnte. We must get used again to the thought that the danger of a war in Europe could threaten. Then he said: Wir müssen kriegstüchtig werden. We must become fit for war. The word kriegstüchtig set off a long debate. The journalist Heribert Prantl called it false and dangerous. The historian Sönke Neitzel noted that most politicians said they understood what Pistorius meant but did not want to say it that way. The military had already used the term. The Inspector General, Carsten Breuer, had used it often since March 2023. Neitzel concluded: Die Politik hinkte dem öffentlichen Diskurs semantisch hinterher. In its words, politics lagged behind the public debate.

The Colonel at Kunduz

On 4 September 2009 a German colonel, Georg Klein, ordered an airstrike near Kunduz in Afghanistan. Up to 142 people were killed or injured, among them civilians. The exact number of dead was never established. In April 2010 the Federal Prosecutor General ended the investigation against Klein and a sergeant. The prosecutor did not judge the result. He judged what Klein knew when he gave the order. Der Beschuldigte Klein durfte davon ausgehen, dass keine Zivilisten vor Ort waren. The accused Klein was entitled to assume that no civilians were present. The decision states the rule: Auch bei der nach Völkerrecht zu treffenden Prüfung ist die Perspektive des Angreifenden zur Tatzeit zugrunde zu legen. Under international law too, the test takes the attacker’s perspective at the time of the act.

The Commander of the Gorch Fock

In November 2010, a 25-year-old officer cadet fell to her death from the rigging of the navy’s sail training ship Gorch Fock. There were also accusations that members of the permanent crew had harassed cadets. On 22 January 2011, Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had the ship’s commander, Captain Norbert Schatz, removed from his command. He was relieved for the duration of the investigation. In March 2011, the navy’s commission of inquiry found that the accusations against the ship’s leadership were largely untenable. Its findings also cleared the commander. Members of parliament from both government and opposition then spoke up for him. The SPD’s Hans-Peter Bartels said he must be rehabilitated. The CDU’s Jürgen Hardt said: Ich kann der Marineführung nur dringend anraten, Herrn Schatz wieder in sein Kommando einzusetzen. I can only urge the navy leadership to put Mr. Schatz back in command.