The central regulation of the Bundeswehr on Innere Führung, its concept of leadership and civic education, starts from an ideal. Ihr Leitbild ist der „Staatsbürger in Uniform“. Its guiding image is the citizen in uniform. In this guiding image, the regulation says, the demands on the soldier are set out idealtypisch, as an ideal type.
The regulation ties the ideal to the constitution. Grundlage der Menschenführung in der Bundeswehr ist die Werteordnung des Grundgesetzes. The basis for leading people in the Bundeswehr is the order of values of the Basic Law. The principles and aims of Innere Führung, it says, form das feste Koordinatensystem, the fixed coordinate system, for service in the Bundeswehr.