German Bundestag Printed paper 17/12050 17th electoral term 29.01.2013

Information from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces

Annual Report 2012 (54th Report)

Submitted with the letter from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of 29 January 2013 pursuant to Section 2 Para. 1 of the Act on the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of the German Bundestag.

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Foreword pected. And even after the end of these missions, we will not be able to simply In the past year, the reorientation of leave them behind us. The bereaved Germany's Federal Armed Forces families of our fallen soldiers, and ("Bundeswehr") entailed insecurity and those who continue to suffer from the burdens for many soldiers and, not consequences of their physical or psy- least, also for their families. This is chological injuries, have a statutory en- probably inevitable when such radical titlement to assistance and recognition, changes are made. The widespread feel- as do their relatives. This also means ing of not being involved in these that we must take precautions in order changes, and not being sufficiently in- to be able to detect and treat any de- formed, has meanwhile led to doubts as layed effects of mission-related stresses to whether the interests of the affected in good time. We are also heading in military personnel were given appro- the right direction in this respect, but priate consideration when distributing we still have a long way to go. the burdens. Doubts of this kind are understandable, at least where location I would like to thank all our soldiers for decisions are concerned. At any rate, the sacrifices they make in the service the military and political leaders are of our country. These thanks are also called upon, more than in the past, to extended to everyone else who likewise patiently and transparently explain has or had to accept personal sacrifices why certain decisions were necessary, and burdens, especially our police offi- and also to correct identified mis- cers, aid workers, diplomats and the judgements in planning before imple- many relatives at home. mentation. My wish for our soldiers is that they There are also reasons to be happy and find a place in the new structures of the grateful: no German soldier was killed armed forces that offers them a perspec- in the year under review, and there has tive, optimism and satisfaction. And: also been a marked decline in the num- may the coming year prove to be a ber and severity of woundings. The ma- peaceful one! jor improvement in mission pretraining and equipment is doubtless part of the reason for this. At the same time, it is also a result of the increasing sharing of burdens with the Afghan security forces. The hand-over to Afghan secu- rity forces of responsibility for security in further areas of Northern Afghani- stan was only possible thanks to the in- tensive and often strenuous training provided by our soldiers. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to every- one involved for what they have achieved.

We can nevertheless not self- contentedly sit back and rest on our laurels. The commonly noticeable feel- ing that the Afghanistan mission is al- ready almost history, is premature. Ex- perience in the KFOR mission shows once again that the situation can de- velop differently than was to be ex- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 3 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Contents Foreword ...... 2 The year under review at a glance ...... 6 1 Leadership behaviour...... 9 1.1 Tone and manners ...... 9 1.2 Reaction to violations of official duties ...... 9 1.3 Extremism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia ...... 11 2 Training ...... 12 2.1 General basic training ...... 12 2.2 Legal knowledge of disciplinary superiors ...... 13 2.3 Handling of small arms ...... 13 2.4 Gorch Fock ...... 14 3 Processing of petitions and complaints ...... 14 3.1 Processing time and processing method ...... 14 3.2 Violations of the ban on discrimination ...... 15 4 Missions abroad ...... 15 4.1 Predeployment training ...... 16 4.2 Mission planning, mission duration and structural overtaxing ...... 17 4.3 Accommodation on missions ...... 18 4.4 Equipment ...... 19 4.4.1 Protected vehicles ...... 19 4.4.2 CH-53 transport helicopter ...... 19 4.4.3 Route clearance ...... 20 4.4.4 Procurement of night-vision devices for special forces ...... 20 4.4.5 Night combat qualification of the MARDER infantry combat vehicle ...... 20 4.4.6 Personal equipment...... 21 4.5 Air transport capacities on missions ...... 22 4.6 Transport to and from missions ...... 22 4.7 Recuperation times...... 23 4.8 Foreign duty allowance ...... 24 4.9 Morale and welfare telecommunications ...... 24 4.9.1 General situation ...... 24 4.9.2 Morale and welfare telecommunications on board seagoing units ...... 25 4.10 Provision of sports equipment on board seagoing units ...... 25 4.11 Mazar-e-Sharif airport ...... 26 4.12 Baggage transport ...... 26 4.13 Military post ...... 26 4.14 Award of the Bundeswehr Foreign Duty Medal ...... 28 5 Compatibility of family and service ...... 29 5.1 Close-to-home assignment and duration of assignment between missions abroad ...... 29 5.2 Conduct of superiors regarding family needs ...... 32 5.3 Child care ...... 33 5.4 Reimbursement of additional child-care costs resulting from basic, advanced and continuation training ...... 34 5.5 Family-related vacancies ...... 34 5.6 Parental leave ...... 34 5.7 Telework ...... 35 6 Women in the armed forces ...... 35 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 4 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

6.1 Missions abroad of servicewomen with children under the age of three ...... 35 6.2 Career development of servicewomen ...... 36 6.3 Military Gender Equality Officers ...... 36 7 Sexual encroachments ...... 36 8 Voluntary military service ...... 37 9 Reservists ...... 39 9.1 Deficiencies in the personnel management of reservists ...... 39 9.2 Taxation of financial payments to reservists ...... 39 10 Personnel ...... 40 10.1 Acceptance of stationing decisions ...... 40 10.2 Deficiencies in the personnel management of active soldiers ...... 40 10.3 Re-enlistment ...... 41 10.4 Assignment planning following the conclusion of studies ...... 41 10.5 Range of fields of study at Bundeswehr universities ...... 42 10.6 Promotion situation...... 42 10.7 Assessment system ...... 43 10.8 Applications for curtailment of the period of service ...... 44 10.9 Rejection of applicants for health reasons ...... 45 10.10 Assignment despite restricted medical fitness ...... 45 10.11 Testimonials ...... 46 10.12 Trainee positions ...... 47 10.13 Military personnel with an immigrant background ...... 47 11 Medical Service ...... 48 11.1 Impact of the reorganisation of the Bundeswehr on the Medical Service ...... 48 11.1.1 Personnel situation regarding Medical Service officers ...... 48 11.1.2 Personnel situation of NCOs and non-rated personnel in the Medical Service .. 49 11.1.3 Medical Service and specifically female interests ...... 50 11.1.4 Reform of the Bundeswehr hospitals ...... 51 11.1.5 Reorientation of unit medical care ...... 52 11.1.6 Short supply of the Bundeswehr with blood preparations ...... 54 11.2 Traumatisation on operations ...... 54 11.2.1 Increase in the number of illnesses ...... 54 11.2.2 Avoidance of mental stress ...... 54 11.2.3 Involvement of relatives in treatment ...... 55 11.2.4 Recourse to civilian therapists ...... 55 11.3 Compensation for persons damaged by radar radiation ...... 56 11.4 Assumption of the costs for artificial insemination ...... 57 11.5 Financial security for personnel injured on operations ...... 57 11.5.1 Improvement of financial security, and persisting gaps ...... 57 11.5.2 Problems when establishing a service-related disability ...... 58 11.5.3 Retired personnel injured on operations ...... 59 11.6 Involvement of the relatives of personnel injured on operations ...... 59 12 Surviving dependants ...... 60 13 Removal expenses law ...... 60 14 Accommodation situation and commuter problem ...... 61 15 Impact of the new Decree on Overtime Compensation on the troops ...... 62 16 Reform of vocational advancement ...... 63 17 Pensions of career soldiers with cumulative years of service in the National People's Army ...... 63 18 Disadvantageous equalisation of pensions for retired career soldiers ...... 64 19 Reorientation of government-furnished meals and MWR food service ...... 64 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 5 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

20 State medical aid ...... 65 20.1 Processing times of applications for state medical aid ...... 65 20.2 Entitlement of relatives to state medical aid ...... 65 21 Residence registration regulation for unmarried military personnel ...... 66 22 Chaplain service ...... 66 23 Outlook ...... 67 24 Exemplary cases for the 2012 Annual Report ...... 69 24.1 Leadership and training ...... 69 24.2 Right-wing extremism ...... 72 24.3 Accidents with weapons ...... 72 24.4 Personnel matters ...... 72 24.5 Compatibility of family and service ...... 75 24.6 Sexual encroachments ...... 76 24.7 Voluntary military service ...... 77 24.8 Reservists ...... 78 24.9 Medical Service and welfare ...... 78 24.10 Accommodation ...... 80 25 Appendices ...... 82 25.1 Statutory foundations of the office and tasks of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces and of service personnel's right of petition ...... 82 25.2 Order: 'Service Personnel and the Parliamentary Commissioner' ...... 25.3. Statistical overviews ...... 25.4 Overview of the Annual Reports for 1959 to 2012 and their deliberation by the German Bundestag ...... 25.5 Organisational chart ...... 26. Keywords ......

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The year under review at a glance mixed agencies. The objection was raised in this context that the principle The event characterising the of order and obedience was characteris- Bundeswehr in the year under review tic of the status of a soldier and that he was the implementation of reorienta- or she did not lose this status when tion of the armed forces. Alongside the working in a mixed agency. In view of missions abroad, the planning and pro- these different opinions, the Parliamen- gress of this reorientation also essen- tary Commissioner for the Armed tially determined the work of the Par- Forces will observe whether the new liamentary Commissioner for the command structure leads to impair- Armed Forces. In the framework of re- ments of the rights of soldiers. porting on the progress of reorientation, comments made by the Parliamentary As far as the structure of the Commissioner in connection with the Bundeswehr is concerned, the Chiefs of stationing decision, equipment and Staff of the services and major organisa- mood among the troops were the sub- tional elements are no longer assigned ject of criticism in the parliamentary to the Federal Ministry of Defence, but sphere. According to the critics, com- separated from the Ministry as the su- ments of this kind were not part of the preme commands for their spheres of responsibilities of the Parliamentary responsibility. As a result, they are re- Commissioner for the Armed Forces. lieved of ministerial duties and can This gives grounds to also go – at the concentrate on the military leadership end of the Report – into the constitu- of their sphere of responsibility. This is tional and statutory framework of the to be welcomed. Coordination of the office of the Parliamentary Commis- services and major organisational ele- sioner for the Armed Forces, the scope ments is the task of the Chief of De- of his duties and rights, and also the fence who, according to the Dresden understanding of his office of the cur- Directive, is now the supreme military rent Parliamentary Commissioner for superior of all soldiers. It is also in- the Armed Forces. cumbent upon him to reach a decision in the event of contradictory proposals The basis for the reorientation of the and interests of the Chiefs of Staff. Bundeswehr is the "Dresden Directive" issued by the Federal Minister of De- Regarding missions abroad, the positive fence on 21 March 2012, according to trend continued in the year under re- which the Bundeswehr Chief of De- view, except in Kosovo. Especially in fence is the administrative superior of Afghanistan, further improvements in the military personnel in the armed training, equipment and facilities have forces and part of the leadership of the led to a marked decline in the number Federal Ministry of Defence. In future, of wounded, and particularly the num- the Federal Ministry of Defence and the ber of very severely wounded. No more Federal Defence Administration, as German soldiers have been killed since well as all other mixed agencies and in- August 2011. This is attributable not stitutions of the Bundeswehr, are to be only to the aforementioned improve- operated solely on the basis of instruc- ments, but also to the transfer of re- tions under civil-service law. sponsibility to the Afghan army and po- lice, as well as to the responsible reac- In this context, the Federal Minister of tion of the contingent leaders to the Defence stated that the principle of or- threat from "green-on-blue attacks". The der and obedience, which fundamen- "Guardian Angels" concept, developed tally gives compliance with orders pri- following the serious incident at the OP ority over lawfulness, was only justi- North in February 2011, has proven fied in the armed forces. This did not successful, but ties up a substantial apply to administrative actions in amount of personnel. This must be German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 7 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______borne in mind in the future when fixing military personnel, but also with the the maximum mandate limits. The motivation and identification of active situation in Kosovo did not become as soldiers with their work, is the com- stable as expected, meaning that re- patibility of family and service. This course increasingly had to be taken to compatibility includes an appropriate reserve forces. This led to major bur- offer of child care. The need to improve dens on individual units that must not the existing offer is undisputed, but ac- be allowed to recur. tion is primarily taken where problems with recruiting young personnel make Geared to the targeted size of 170,000 it unavoidable: at the Bundeswehr hos- temporary-career volunteers and career pitals and the Bundeswehr universities. soldiers, up to 12,500 military service Another unresolved problem is the lack volunteers and 2,500 posts for reserv- of effective vacancy management. Not ists, the personnel of the armed forces least the increase in the number of fell to 191,631 by the end of 2012. The women in the armed forces automati- reduction primarily affected the rank cally leads to a rise in family-related and file, leading to substantial addi- absence due to maternity protection tional burdens on non-commissioned and parental leave. The vacancies re- officers. Just how dramatic the situation sulting from this, and from training and occasionally is in this sector, is evi- missions, can ultimately only be com- denced by, for example, the numbers in pensated for by maintaining corre- the fleet, where there is currently a to- sponding personnel reserves. However, tal shortage of more than 700 enlisted the current personnel structure model men. The situation is similar in the makes no provision for reserves of this other services and major organisational kind. More detailed information on this elements. subject can be found under the key- words "Child care" and "Family-related Expectations that reorientation would vacancies". make the Bundeswehr more effective and efficient, were not confirmed in the Petitions relating to personnel matters year under review. On the contrary: the in the year under review were, among duty and operational strain, particu- other things, particularly characterised larly in the Army, the Navy and the by persistent criticism of the result and Medical Service, has reached the the implementation of the structural maximum stress levels and sometimes decisions. How the mood among the also exceeded them, as described in troops as regards the reorientation of more detail in the chapters on mission the Bundeswehr is to be judged from planning, mission duration and struc- the point of view of the Parliamentary tural overtaxing, as well as the impact Commissioner for the Armed Forces, is of reorientation on the Medical Service. presented under the heading "Accep- tance of stationing decisions". Beyond Despite all the improvements that have this, complaints about promotion back- been made and deserve acknowledge- logs and the assessment system were ment, there are also still substantial again at the forefront in the personnel gaps as regards equipment, especially sector. large-scale equipment. All in all, the impression arises that the employer is Developments in the Bundeswehr planning with a structure and equip- Medical Service continue to give ment that it cannot afford under the grounds for major concern. For several given framework conditions. This is years now, the Bundeswehr Medical apparent in many areas. Service has only been able to secure the provision of medical services for mili- One important aspect in connection not tary personnel by making increasing only with the recruitment of young use of civilian capacities. This trend German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 8 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______again became more pronounced in the base, but also to establish a system of year under review. In the new struc- preventive support and welfare assis- ture, the remaining five Bundeswehr tance. The Federal Ministry of Defence hospitals will no longer be able to pro- has kindly taken up thoughts relating to vide military personnel with "all- the introduction of a status of this kind round" medical care, but only in certain and kicked off a more extensive discus- specialist disciplines. The cause of this sion of the matter. This discussion is – in coordination with civilian hospi- should be continued in a goal-oriented tals – the concentration on specialist manner. But it must be clear in this skills, leading to abandonment of the context that it is not merely a question principle of on-the-spot "maximum of the acknowledgement and apprecia- care". At the same time, there will in tion of service on missions, although future be more referrals of military pa- that is, of course, also important. Above tients to civilian doctors and hospitals. all, it must be ensured that deployment The problems to be expected as a result returnees and their families receive are described in more detail in the medical care and support. That is no chapter "Medical Service". act of generosity – from the point of view of welfare and care, the employer One special problem in the context of already has such a statutory obligation the provision of medical services is the today, even beyond the end of the time treatment and support of the increasing spent in service. number of traumatised soldiers. Prob- lems regarding the treatment and sup- In the year under review, too little at- port of this group of persons particu- tention was paid to planned legislation larly arise where illnesses do not be- that also affects important rights of sol- come apparent until after retirement diers. The Federalism Reform trans- from service. They consist in the fact ferred the previous responsibility for that the employer is generally no longer the law on residence registration from in contact with these persons at this the Länder to the Federation. The Fed- point in time, and also that data regard- eral Government thereupon introduced ing their active service and their mis- a bill regarding a Federal Registration sions are no longer available. This gap Act in the Bundestag in the year under must be closed. There are signs that a review. The bill envisaged abolition of start has been made. For instance, as the obligation of unmarried soldiers, suggested by the Parliamentary Com- embedded in the previous Länder laws, missioner for the Armed Forces, mis- to register their principal residence at sion logs are now retained perma- their duty location. This amendment nently. However, they are not available was withdrawn in the course of the par- to civilian hospitals in the event of liamentary deliberations on the bill – treatment of a soldier for traumatisa- with negative consequences for sol- tion. diers, as described in the relevant chap- ter of the Report. Against this backdrop, A fundamental solution to this problem the legislators should once again weigh must be found. In future, all data re- up the advantages and disadvantages of garding the service and missions of the original bill in this respect. soldiers must be collected, and contact with them must be maintained even af- Several petitions were received in the ter their retirement from service. This year under review that reported on makes it necessary to grant former mis- facts or events which, being classified sion participants a status of their own. matters, were subject to secrecy. In this context, the Order: 'Service Personnel This status could be described by the and the Parliamentary Commissioner' term "veterans" or "deployment return- provides that petitions to the Parlia- ees" and used not only to create a data- mentary Commissioner for the Armed German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 9 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Forces may not contain reports on such and assignment series and was there- occurrences. At a meeting with the fore indispensable. The servicewoman leadership of the Federal Ministry of was unable to understand this, given Defence, it was agreed that the right of the fact that she had been allowed to petition, embedded in the Basic Law, take part in the selection process for six may not be restricted by the ban on months, although the situation was communicating matters subject to se- known. I can only concur with that. crecy, particularly since the handling of petitions by the Parliamentary Com- In view of the particular situation in missioner for the Armed Forces is this case, the responsible Chief of Staff likewise subject to secrecy, and com- of the Joint Support Service stated that pliance with the provisions of the law he intended to talk to the service- on the protection of confidential infor- woman again. mation is ensured in the framework of dealing with the petition. For this rea- 1.1 Tone and manners son, the Federal Ministry of Defence was called upon to correct the Order in The tone and manners of some superi- this respect. ors and comrades make it clear that the transformation of the Bundeswehr into an army based on mutual regard and 1 Leadership behaviour respect has not yet been internalised by all soldiers. With reference to a sup- In the year under review, the Parlia- posed "old school", verbal faux pas still mentary Commissioner for the Armed occur, occasionally also being tolerated Forces once again focused particularly by superiors. on deficits and deficiencies in the issu- ance of orders, supervision and welfare. For example, a staff sergeant repeatedly used the nickname "Ticktack" to ad- Mutual trust between superiors and dress a subordinate sergeant, who suf- subordinates is indispensable in rou- fered from a disorder of eyelid move- tine duty. It was often lacking. This ment. When reprimanding soldiers un- prompted affected persons to make use der his command, a company com- of their right of petition, guaranteed by mander asked whether they could get the constitution, and to turn directly to that into their "shitty heads". Soldiers the Parliamentary Commissioner for the who were overweight, or not the sport- Armed Forces of the German ing type, were referred to by their com- Bundestag. pany commander as "potatoes", "dump- lings" or "heavy masses that attract ob- One particular serious case of loss of jects". It is disturbing to note that not confidence was reported to the Parlia- even the regimental commander con- mentary Commissioner from the Joint sidered this to be insulting. The same Support Service. A servicewoman from commander also considered a roughly a battalion for electronic warfare had 60 cm long stick, which the company applied for a newly created post in the commander used to prod subordinate Special Forces Command (KSK) and personnel and rap their helmets, to be a successfully completed both the apti- perfectly permissible leadership tool in tude assessment and the subsequent, combat situations. physically and psychologically de- manding six-month selection process. 1.2 Reaction to violations of offi- When a decision was then to be made cial duties regarding her transfer, the Joint Support Service opposed the woman's move to As a general rule, legal advisors and the KSK, pointing out that she was de- disciplinary superiors quite rightly very ployed in an understaffed speciality closely examine violations of discipli- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 10 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______nary relevance by military personnel harsh, but certainly reasonable and jus- and react immediately. tifiable.

It is fundamentally at the dutiful dis- In contrast, exaggerated lenience was cretion of the responsible disciplinary exercised in the following two cases. superior to decide how to react to viola- tions of official duties on the part of The pertinent Navy Regulation states subordinate personnel. An appropriate that up to two bottles of beer (0.33 li- reaction to disciplinary offences is re- tres, the "two-can rule") may be drunk quired in every instance. when off duty on seagoing units of the Navy. Exemptions from this rule can be It can be said that this is, in fact, gener- granted in writing by the commander ally the case. However, cases again be- and the executive officer. came known in the year under review, where disciplinary superiors left it at a Against the backdrop of this rule, the caution or reprimand, although imposi- commander of a frigate invited the ex- tion of a disciplinary measure would ecutive officer, the ship medical officer have been indicated. In other cases, and five heads of department to his where the instigation of judicial disci- quarters for a drink. According to esti- plinary proceedings would have been mates by witnesses, roughly 15 bottles appropriate, the reaction instead con- of beer, a bottle of schnapps and two sisted of non-judicial disciplinary bottles of port were drunk there. This measures, occasionally on probation. did not go unnoticed by the crew, to Hesitant or protracted investigations whom the two-can rule applied. In moreover led to situations where non- view of the quantity of alcohol, together judicial disciplinary measures could no with the loud music and laughter com- longer be imposed due to lapse of time. ing from the quarters, they had the im- pression that a drinking bout was in It was not infrequently found when ex- progress. The responsible agency re- amining conduct in breach of duty that frained from responding to the com- higher-ranking officers can more likely mander's conduct with disciplinary ac- expect their disciplinary superiors to be tion. The reason given for this was that lenient. The application of double he had merely omitted to grant written standards inherent in this is impermis- exemption from the two-can rule, i.e. sible and significantly damages the re- that he could only be accused of a for- spectability of, and trust in, superiors. mal error. The breach of the duty to As clearly illustrated by the following demonstrate model conduct, and the examples, this particularly applies if associated blatant leadership failure on exaggerated lenience is exercised vis-à- the part of the commander, was over- vis high-ranking superiors, while per- looked. This lastingly damaged confi- sons of lower rank suffer the full dence not only in the superior, but also harshness of disciplinary action in in the agency responsible for punishing similar cases. the conduct.

For instance, a disciplinary fine of The situation was similar in the follow- € 1,500 was imposed on a corporal ing case. A commander with the rank of who, on the occasion of a drinking a general had given two dinners at his game during the ISAF mission in Ka- private home and impermissibly util- bul, had violated the order not to drink ised military personnel and official re- more than 0.25 litres of wine. After sources for this purpose. A figure in ex- thorough examination of all the cir- cess of € 1,000 was put on the resultant cumstances, the disciplinary action loss. The competent Disciplinary At- taken in this case may have appeared torney for the Armed Forces submitted a written charge against the commander German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 11 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______to the initiating authority. The com- ranks. 31 percent were senior and jun- mander had in the meantime been pen- ior non-commissioned officers. In addi- sioned off. The initiating authority tion, one reserve duty officer came un- dismissed the case, determining that a der suspicion. In 16 percent of the sus- disciplinary offence had been commit- pected cases reported, disciplinary of- ted, on the grounds that judicial disci- fences could not be sufficiently proven plinary action was not yet required. In or the perpetrators could not be ascer- view of the drastic sanctions customar- tained. ily imposed in cases of this kind, the complete waiver of any punishment As in previous years, by far the major- whatsoever is incomprehensible. ity of cases related to illegal propa- ganda activities. Examples include lis- 1.3 Extremism, anti-Semitism and tening to or bringing in right-wing ex- xenophobia tremist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic music on or into Bundeswehr premises, Extremism, anti-Semitism and xeno- giving the Nazi salute, shouting "Sieg phobia in the Bundeswehr have always Heil" and utterances with a right-wing received the special attention of the extremist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic Parliamentary Commissioner for the content. Armed Forces. Questions and enquiries regarding pertinent incidents are an in- All these cases constitute serious disci- tegral part of visits to the troops and plinary offences. They violate the duty talks with soldiers of all rank catego- of allegiance that is incumbent on the ries. In addition, all cases reported by soldier and demands of the soldier that the troops as "serious incidents" involv- he or she acknowledge the principles of ing a suspicion of an extremist, anti- a free democratic order, the rule of law Semitic or xenophobic background are and the social welfare state enshrined taken up and evaluated ex officio. To in Germany's Basic Law, and actively this end, the responsible disciplinary stand up for its values. It can be as- superiors are requested to inform the sumed that a soldier who listens to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the corresponding music, voices National Armed Forces of the course of the in- Socialist thoughts, gives the Nazi salute vestigations and the disciplinary action and shouts "Sieg Heil" is not willing to and personnel measures taken, and to stand up for the free democratic consti- provide him with the investigation tutional system at all times. Discipli- documents. In this context, I also re- nary offences of this kind must be con- quest information about the outcome of sistently punished in every instance, reviews by the Bundeswehr Counterin- also in order to counteract the danger of telligence Office and decisions of the radicalisation. The measures open to departments of public prosecution, dis- consideration depend on the status of ciplinary and complaints courts, and the soldier, as well as on the nature and criminal courts, as well as of the ad- seriousness of the disciplinary offence. ministrative courts, which occasionally As far as can be seen, the cases coming review dismissal proceedings. to notice resulted in an immediate and consistent response. In the year under review, the Bundeswehr reported 67 "serious inci- Regardless of this, the fact that service dents" where a right-wing extremist, in the Bundeswehr is no longer based anti-Semitic or xenophobic background on an obligation, but entirely voluntary, was suspected. 63 such reports were should be seen as an opportunity to de- received in the previous year. vote even more attention to the ac- knowledgement of the constitution by Of the soldiers coming under suspi- applicants during the selection proce- cion, roughly 68 percent came from the dure. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 12 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

charges, that any of the accused had When presenting the last Annual Re- committed the offence. port, I drew attention to two particular occurrences involving possible arson based on right-wing extremist or xeno- 2 Training phobic motives. In one case, three re- fuse bags were set alight in front of the 2.1 General basic training door of a pizzeria; in the other case, fire was set to a tool-shed into which immi- Since compulsory military service was grants pursued by the offenders had suspended in June 2011, the fled. Bundeswehr has been facing new chal- lenges as regards personnel recruit- The following can be reported as re- ment. Anyone who now signs up for gards the status of the investigations in duty in the armed forces no longer does these two cases: so on the basis of a statutory obligation, but because he or she applies to do this In the first of these criminal proceed- service. Recruits who decide in favour ings, the soldier among the accused of voluntary military service can, how- was given a prison sentence of 18 ever, also quit this service again within months by the court of first instance. a probationary period of six months. Execution of the sentence was sus- Whether they make use of this right pended on probation. The soldier ap- depends on whether service corre- pealed against the judgement by the sponds to their ideas and expectations, court of first instance. Once the crimi- and whether they feel appropriately nal proceedings have come to an end, treated. the competent Disciplinary Attorney for the Armed Forces will have to re- For the Bundeswehr, this means that it view whether the judicial disciplinary has to approach these young people proceedings are to be continued. more directly and explain the nature and content of service to them. This In the second criminal proceedings, a particularly applies to basic training, basic service conscript, who had retired which is the first point of contact of the normally from service after the time of new soldiers with the troops. the offence, was accused, along with other defendants, of jointly chasing Hardly helpful was the practice in a immigrants. A number of immigrants paratroop company, where the recruits had fled into a tool-shed, which an as had to carry a laminated red card bear- yet unidentified offender set on fire ing the inscription "Count me out". with a burning tree branch and an ac- They were supposed to pull out this celerant. Two further persons likewise card if, due to the toughness of the sought refuge in the already burning training, they wanted to exercise their shed. Only by telephone were the po- right to terminate their military service lice able to persuade the persons pre- prematurely. Reminiscent of a TV sent in the tool-shed to get out of the show, this practice did not do justice to shed in time. The shed was razed to the the necessary seriousness of basic mili- ground. The charges against the former tary training. Moreover, it led recruits soldier and other accused persons, in- to believe that, by using this option, cluding attempted murder, were they could immediately terminate mili- dropped in accordance with Section tary service and leave the chain of 170 Para. 2 of the Code of Criminal command, although this would in fact Procedure. The department of public require formal proceedings. Following prosecution was unable to prove, with poor firing results, one recruit also the certainty necessary for preferring found it hardly motivating that his pla- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 13 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______toon leader asked whether he was "hav- avoidable complaint proceedings. In ing him on". addition to which, they weaken confi- dence in superiors and undermine their Contrary to the pertinent regulation, a authority. platoon leader at a Bundeswehr train- ing establishment instructed his re- In the year under review, there were cruits to first report to him and describe again cases where the responsible legal their symptoms before going to see the advisor was not consulted, despite dif- unit physician, so that they could then ficult facts and circumstances. Disci- jointly decide on whether a visit to the plinary superiors require further sensi- unit physician was necessary. This was tisation in this respect. Regular basic impermissible. and continuing legal training is indis- pensable, also outside the officer train- In another case, recruits complained ing and service schools. It is worrying about the daily check of their shaves that, even during reviews by higher and fingernails, which was obviously commands, serious errors on the part of intended as collective punishment, as disciplinary superiors are overlooked well as a late-evening line-up after or allowed to pass without comment. lights out, where they were cautioned An example of this can be found in the about the inadequate performance of cases presented at the end of this Re- their block jobs. These complaints were port. understandable. Checks and cautions must not be allowed to become an end 2.3 Handling of small arms in themselves, since they otherwise create the impression of being mere Both at home and on missions, there spite. Moreover, actions interpreted as were isolated instances of uninten- being collective punishment under- tional shots being fired when handling mine the principle of comradeship. small arms in the year under review. Soldiers were injured in some cases. Regardless of this, challenging training On missions, the soldiers injured by the – that must occasionally even take shots had to be repatriated to Germany young recruits to the limits of their ca- in some cases. As a rule, the cause of pacities – continues to be indispensable the unintentional shots fired was fail- to cater to the high demands to be im- ure to comply with safety regulations posed on the profession of soldier. The when handling weapons. suspension of compulsory military ser- vice cannot serve as justification for The deficiencies reported in the previ- lowering these demands. And the sol- ous year regarding insufficient training, diers acknowledge this. What is deci- and a lack of small arms and ammuni- sive is that the reasonableness of the tion in mission pretraining, unfortu- training means is maintained and that nately persisted. Soldiers were still re- the purpose of training remains identi- porting about inadequate weapons fiable and understandable. Responsibil- training, particularly on the MP 7 sub- ity for this is borne by the superior en- machine gun and the MG 4 machine trusted with training. gun, during a fact-finding visit in No- vember. 2.2 Legal knowledge of discipli- nary superiors The safety regulations for handling weapons – specified, for example, in The exercise of disciplinary power de- the "New Marksmanship Training Con- mands of disciplinary superiors that cept for Small Arms and Hand-Held they have good knowledge regarding Antitank Weapons" of October 2010 – disciplinary law and the right of com- are intended to reduce the dangers plaint. Uncertainty and errors lead to emanating from the weapons for in- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 14 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______volved and uninvolved persons to a re- a newly developed training and utilisa- sidual risk and to help avoid personal tion concept that is designed to expand injuries, in particular. The new Marks- and standardise pre-sail training. Also manship Training Concept has not yet part of the new training concept is the been implemented everywhere. Until presence of a chaplain on board the sail the time of its complete introduction, training ship. The action taken is to be soldiers can also be sent on missions if welcomed, as is the resumption of they have met the requirements of the training on the Gorch Fock. old Marksmanship Training Concept.

Following newspaper reports on the 3 Processing of petitions and uncertainty of soldiers regarding the complaints handling of small arms, the Defence Committee requested the Federal Min- 3.1 Processing time and process- istry of Defence to submit a report on ing method the status of the marksmanship training of the soldiers of the German contin- In the past year, too, military personnel gents. The report of November 2012 ul- rightly criticised the long time taken to timately states that the unintentional process petitions and complaints. The firing of shots often has a stress-related occasionally very long processing times background, occurs disproportionately in the sphere of the Federal Ministry of often in the first 20 days on a mission Defence was also compounded by a and is mostly caused by the incorrect processing backlog in my office, this behaviour of individuals. The employer mainly being caused by staff shortages must not let the matter rest at these in one area. The backlog has since been findings, but counteract incorrect be- worked off and the understaffing reme- haviour of this kind by specifically im- died. proving and expanding marksmanship training. Above all, it must be ensured The separation of the Chiefs of Staff that people do not lose their respect for and their staffs from the Federal Minis- loaded weapons, even under the spe- try of Defence led to pending petition cial conditions prevailing on a mission. matters being delayered to the subordi- nate area or redistributed within the 2.4 Gorch Fock Ministry. This resulted in occasionally substantial delays in processing. The The previous Annual Report included delays were particularly severe in the an exhaustive report on the results of sphere of the Joint Support Command, the investigations into an accident with because numerous incomplete cases fatal outcome during training on the from the dissolved Armed Forces Staff Gorch Fock sail training ship. The in- and from other areas had to be finally sights gained from the investigations in settled, in addition to the already high autumn 2010 regarding increasing number of petition matters. There were safety during sail training were trans- no signs of a timely increase in man- lated into concrete proposals in the re- power levels in line with the growing port by the "Commission on the Future workload. Shape of the German Navy's Basic Seamanship Training", into which the In addition to the long processing time, suggestions of the Parliamentary Com- the content of some statements likewise missioner for the Armed Forces were deserved criticism, including some incorporated. For example, a training from the sphere of the Federal Ministry facility with training mast was put into of Defence. An example can be found service at Mürwik Naval Academy, in the specimen cases. Missing investi- making it possible to safely practise go- gation records led to further delays. In ing aloft into the rigging. This is part of some instances, there was only a hesi- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 15 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______tant response to enquiries. It was more serious when affected superiors them- In one case, a provisional testimonial selves were involved in clarifying the issued after a twelve-year period of ser- facts of the case, rather than being ex- vice was amended to the detriment of amined as defendants. It was unaccept- the soldier following submission of a able that, particularly in cases of inter- petition. In response to an enquiry, the personal tension, it was often not con- superior agencies were unable to see sidered necessary to also question the any connection with the soldier's peti- petitioner as a witness. tion, but they nevertheless instructed the responsible agency to reverse the The aforementioned carelessness, amendment of the testimonial. In an- omissions and mistakes must be reme- other case, the soldier was rebuked in a died. draft assessment for "giving the impres- sion that he did not trust his higher- 3.2 Violations of the ban on dis- ranking leaders". This lack of trust was crimination said to be reflected in the fact that he "made use of his rights as a soldier. It According to Section 7 of the Act on would be desirable for the soldier to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the utilise the instances within the com- Armed Forces, a soldier may not be of- pany and the battalion before availing ficially reprimanded or subjected to himself of his rights as a soldier." discrimination for invoking the Parlia- mentary Commissioner for the Armed The reproach derived from the exercise Forces. Despite this express legal pro- of the right of petition in this formula- tection, the office received petitions in tion is as far-fetched as it is impermis- the year under review, in which sol- sible. By submitting a petition, the peti- diers expressed the fear of being sub- tioner is exercising a legally vested jected to discrimination by superiors right. This cannot be grounds for a re- and ostracised by comrades for submit- proach. Therefore, the formulation ting a petition. For this reason, a sig- quoted above constitutes a breach of nificant number of them requested that the ban on discrimination. This kind of their names not be given to the thing must have consequences – other- Bundeswehr agencies involved when wise, the ban on discrimination misses examining their statements. the mark. This is a case of supervisory failings. It should be made clear at this point that the petitions involved in such In view of the importance of the ban on cases are not anonymous. Rather, in the discrimination for protection of the spirit of Section 9 of the Act on the Par- right of petition, I occasioned the com- liamentary Commissioner for the pilation of a list of relevant cases, in Armed Forces, the names of the authors order to permit closer monitoring of are known to the Parliamentary Com- developments in this sector. In addi- missioner, but not disclosed. tion, I called upon the Federal Minister of Defence to ensure that the ban on In some cases, it appeared necessary to discrimination is observed in the also observe the further progress of the troops. This is a fundamental issue of petitioners in the Bundeswehr after the right of petition. Internal leadership processing of their petitions had been is eroded if restrictions in this context completed, in order to be able to coun- are tolerated. teract any individual discrimination. These cases are exceptions, but indi- vidual instances do show signs of in- 4 Missions abroad creasingly dwindling knowledge re- garding the ban on discrimination. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 16 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

In the year under review, special atten- KFOR mission cannot continue as tion was once again paid not only to planned. The security situation contin- the structural reform of the ues to require a robust presence, also of Bundeswehr, but also to its missions German combat forces. This is under- abroad. Except in Kosovo, the positive standable. Meanwhile, the necessary trend in the missions continued in the request for the ORF reserves led to a year under review. major strain on individual units that must not be allowed to recur. In con- Especially in Afghanistan, noticeable trast, the situation in Bosnia and Her- improvements in training, equipment zegovina is pleasing. After almost 17 and facilities have led to a marked de- years, the last German soldiers left the cline in the number of wounded, and country in September 2012. However, particularly the number of severely the relocation of German Patriot mis- wounded, in the German mission con- siles to Turkey, which has already be- tingent, contrary to the general trend in gun, shows that the Bundeswehr will the ISAF sphere. No more German sol- also continue to be involved in new diers have been killed since August missions abroad in the future. 2011. Consequently, the achievements of the Federal Ministry of Defence in 4.1 Predeployment training this field to date deserve whole-hearted acknowledgement, although there is Sound predeployment training is in- still a need for further action. Military dispensable, simply for reasons of wel- personnel of all rank categories quite fare and care. Complaints about defi- rightly expressed the fear that, in view ciencies in predeployment training of the envisaged personnel cutbacks, were again the subject of numerous pe- attacks on ISAF soldiers could increase titions in the past year. again. Against this backdrop, top prior- ity must continue to be given to the Insufficient ammunition was again safety of the soldiers. As in the preced- available for this training in 2012, ing years, the aim must be to eliminate meaning that the "bottleneck manage- the training and equipment deficiencies ment" mentioned in the previous An- still existing as soon as possible. nual Report continued. While supplies of ammunition for the P 8 pistol im- The pleasing decline in the number of proved significantly, supplies of belted wounded is attributable not only to the live and blank ammunition remained improvements in training and equip- tight. ment, but also to the responsible reac- tion of the contingent leaders to the It was again criticised that important threat of "green-on-blue attacks". The elements of the training were only pro- "Guardian Angels" concept – developed vided in the country of deployment. following the serious incident at the OP Where vehicles and aircraft fit for de- North in February 2011, resulting in the ployment were not available in the de- death of three German soldiers – has sired numbers on missions, there was proven successful, but ties up a sub- often already a shortage of them for pre- stantial amount of personnel. This must training in Germany. For example, ow- be borne in mind in future when fixing ing to technical and legal problems, the the maximum mandate limits. EMU electronic, mine-protected sup- port vehicle could not be used for The situation in Kosovo did not be- driver training for the first time until come as stable as expected, meaning two weeks before the transfer to the that recourse increasingly had to be country of deployment. This time was taken to reserve forces. In the opinion no longer sufficient to provide the af- of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the fected personnel with complete train- massive reduction of the forces on the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 17 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______ing. This problem has since been recti- mission duration of four months, apart fied. from in clearly defined exceptional cases. The other services and major or- At the Rapid Medical Response Forces ganisational elements should likewise Command, Type CH-53 helicopters take this figure as a guide. In fact, how- were only available sporadically and ever, six months on a mission is cur- more by chance for practising a medical rently more the rule than the exception, evacuation (MEDEVAC). Only in two even in the Army. In the case of the cases out of nine could the helicopter 28th ISAF contingent, provided by the be made available for training. Instead, 13th Armoured Infantry Division, more the exercise had to be performed using than 50 percent of the soldiers were on helicopter dummies. A lack of training the mission for six months or longer. It course places was another reason for is equally unacceptable when soldiers soldiers having to catch up on impor- themselves and their families are ex- tant training elements in the country of pected to undergo stressful periods of deployment. Examples included firing training that ultimately prove to be use- with the FLW 200 weapons system, less. The Federal Ministry of Defence driving with the newly introduced conceded that substantial numbers of BONIE M night-vision goggles and soldiers were trained for missions but, training as a mission first-aid provider owing to the force reductions, were ei- Bravo. ther not sent on a mission at all, or were deployed elsewhere. Unrealistic training on alternative equipment or dummies is a training de- Both must be corrected. The longer du- ficiency that can have serious conse- ration of in-theatre deployment must be quences in the country of deployment. reduced again, also for the forces de- Later training in the country of de- ployed in the framework of "partner- ployment burdens operations with ad- ing". The burdens for the soldiers and ditional, avoidable tasks. It is disturb- their families associated with a mission ing that a commander candidly con- duration of six months are too great and ceded that training deficits would con- lead to overtaxing of those affected. tinue to occur in the future, if the mate- rial equipment of the units was not im- Overtaxing resulted not only from the proved. Further efforts are necessary in mission duration, but also from the fre- this respect in order to optimally pre- quency of deployment. Soldiers who pare soldiers for their mission. had already completed an ISAF mis- sion were included in the plans for the 4.2 Mission planning, mission du- ORF ready reserve for the time follow- ration and structural overtaxing ing their return home, and also called up, meaning that the affected persons Many complaints regarding mission had to go off on this mission at short planning were received in the period notice. This was not primarily the fault under review. The subject of the com- of the planners but, above all, alarming plaints was, once again, the short-term evidence of the lacking sustainability of nature and lacking dependability of the troops that is already visible today mission planning. An example can be – not only as regards specialists, such found in the cases described at the end as engineers, NBC defence or EOD of the Report. All agencies remain forces, but in the meantime also as re- called upon to ensure greater depend- gards the combat troops. Too many de- ability and transparency in this context. ployed forces with in-theatre deploy- ment durations of six months and more The mission duration was likewise have to go on missions too frequently criticised frequently. In the Army, the and at increasingly short intervals. target is still not to exceed a regular German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 18 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

The Navy forces were exposed to par- some of them could be assigned to ci- ticularly great mission stress. Accord- vilian security services. ing to the Navy, the reason for this is the continuing shortage of personnel, In any case, significant relief of the ex- this especially affecting the ranks and isting burdens is urgently necessary. junior non-commissioned officers. In Otherwise, the assignments of the Navy figures: 22 percent of the posts as mate in the framework of international mis- on the seagoing units of Flotilla 2 are sions threaten to result in total overtax- currently vacant. The situation is even ing of the personnel. worse in the ranks. Particularly hard- hit are the Naval Technology Services 4.3 Accommodation on missions where, referred to the entire fleet, 29 percent of the posts in Assignment Worrying in the past year were the hy- Category 42 (Propulsion Technology) gienic conditions under which the and even 44 percent of the posts in As- members of the German task force signment Categories 43 (Electrical En- company had to perform their duties at gineering) and 44 (Auxiliary Systems "Gate 1" of the Serbian-Kosovar border Engineering) are unoccupied. All in all, in Kosovo. Owing to blockades on the the fleet is currently short of more than access roads, the camp provisionally 700 men. erected by the USA could only be sup- plied from the air at times. The chemi- The increasingly great operational cal toilets could not be emptied for the commitments of the Navy are leading to same reason. The soldiers thus had to situations where missing personnel has relieve themselves in unheated tents to be "borrowed" from other units. The without dividing walls. The excrement consequence of this is that the crews of was collected in troughs and burned. the units that are temporarily not The accommodation was infested with scheduled for missions, are so thinned vermin. out that training activities at sea are only possible within limits. On top of The affected soldiers bore these priva- this comes the strain on the watch re- tions without complaining and mas- sulting from shipyard and port lay tered their tasks under extremely diffi- times. cult conditions. That deserves the greatest credit. The situation has since To relieve the strain on the available returned to normal. Nevertheless, this personnel, the Navy has established a example clearly illustrates the very dif- system for managing vacancies and a ferent, sometimes really unreasonable follow-up management system, com- living conditions under which the mili- bined units in port, adapted the regula- tary personnel of the contingents have tions on watchkeeping in port, and at- to serve abroad. There is a need for ac- tempted to organise training as close as tion in this respect. possible to the home or base. This is very much to be welcomed. From the The 2011 Annual Report already drew point of view of the Navy, however, all attention to the shortage of sanitary these administrative measures can at containers at the OP North in Afghani- best slightly alleviate the situation of stan. Several petitions were received in the individual, but not eliminate the early 2012, complaining that, owing to structural personnel deficits. Addi- frequent breakdowns, there continued tional immediate action is necessary in to be too few functioning sanitary con- order to rectify these deficits. One of tainers for the soldiers stationed at the the questions to be examined will be as OP North. The Federal Ministry of De- to whether all the aforementioned fence acknowledged the need for ad- watchkeeping duties have to be per- justments. The Bundeswehr reported in formed by the Navy, or whether at least June 2012 that the deficiencies had German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 19 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______been remedied by providing additional impact of shells and fragments by toilet and shower/washroom containers means of corresponding armouring. and that adequate supplies were en- According to information from the Fed- sured. The improvement achieved is to eral Ministry of Defence, the corre- be welcomed, the long time taken to sponding measure can probably not be implement it is not. implemented until the third quarter of 2013. 4.4 Equipment Likewise rightly criticised was the fact Not least thanks to the initiative of the that the protective equipment for fire- Defence Committee, numerous im- brigade vehicles on the ISAF mission provements were achieved as regards continues to be inadequate. According equipment. Nevertheless, there are still to a communication from the Federal substantial needs in a number of areas. Ministry of Defence, the reason for this Every effort must be undertaken to is that conversion would be equivalent guarantee the best possible protection to new construction of the affected ve- of our soldiers. Above all, the priority hicles. Protected fire-brigade vehicles goal must be to provide the necessary cannot be expected to arrive until 2015. large-scale equipment in sufficient numbers. A shortage of suitable heli- 4.4.2 CH-53 transport helicopter copters and armoured vehicles, for ex- ample, cannot be tolerated. The equipment of the Type CH-53 transport helicopters is still unsatisfac- 4.4.1 Protected vehicles tory. Certain vital components of the helicopter are to be provided with bal- Further improvements in the field of listic protection to improve safety. It vehicle protection were initiated in the remains to be seen how quickly and to year under review. This particularly re- what extent the measure is imple- lated to command and functional vehi- mented. cles of the EAGLE IV and DINGO 2 types, as well as protected transport It is to be rated critically that the rescue vehicles in the 5-tonne payload class. It and recovery winch, already mentioned remains to be seen whether the vehicles in the 2011 Annual Report, can so far really will already be available in the still not be used on missions. Accord- first quarter of 2013, as announced. Re- ing to information from the Federal gardless of this, it must be pointed out Ministry of Defence, the necessary test that there is still a shortage of protected flights were completed in the fourth transport vehicles in the 9- and 2-tonne quarter and the technical approval pro- payload classes on missions. cedure is making further progress, meaning that approval for use can be One positive development to be re- expected in the first quarter of 2013. ported is that a further 20 armoured However, the envisaged machines will transport vehicles of the BOXER type not be equipped and ready for use be- were commissioned in the year under fore mid-2013. There is a need to accel- review. Apart from some details, the erate this process. The same applies to soldiers consider the vehicle to be very the sensor-assisted landing aid. Again, suitable for operations and feel that it the Federal Ministry of Defence says improves their situation. that the landing aid will not be put into service until 2013. A point to be criticised is that success has so far still not been achieved in Moreover, for lack of suitable radio providing the "crow's nest" of the equipment, an elevated coordination FUCHS armoured transport vehicle effort must continue to be expected in with all-round protection against the radio communication with other na- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 20 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______tions. New equipment is to be installed protection for lack of sufficient budget in the near future, but this will still funds. Only in autumn 2010 was its take a certain amount of time. development and procurement ordered by instruction of the State Secretary, 4.4.3 Route clearance and then only as a result of emphatic intervention from the parliamentary The necessary improvements called for sphere. in the field of reconnaissance and clear- ing of explosive ordnance and booby The deferment of the development and traps ("route clearance") could not be procurement of a route clearance sys- achieved in the year under review. The tem of that time does not tie in with re- Bundeswehr still has only an initial ca- peatedly confirmed declarations that pability in this sector. the protection and safety of the soldiers is of paramount importance over every- In addition to the two Mini MINE- thing else, and that priority should be WOLF vehicles and a 15-tonne MULTI given to necessary action for improving FSA truck made available in October this protection. Against the backdrop of 2011, two operator vehicles based on this maxim, which continues to apply, the FUCHS armoured transport vehicle the development and procurement of were shipped to Afghanistan in the the protection system must now be fur- year under review. In contrast, de- ther accelerated. ployment of the WIESEL detector vehi- cles is subject to a delay of several 4.4.4 Procurement of night-vision months. Introduction of the FUCHS devices for special forces armoured transport vehicle for explo- sive ordnance reconnaissance and iden- The procurement of night-vision de- tification is even scheduled only to be- vices for various fields of application gin in 2014. These delays in providing has played an essential role since the a suitable route clearance system must start of the Afghanistan mission. Ac- be emphatically criticised. cording to information from the Federal Ministry of Defence, corresponding The first attack on German forces in equipment for driving by night and in Northern Afghanistan using improvised restricted visibility, and also range- explosive devices occurred in summer finders for advanced observers, were 2004. A year later, the Bundeswehr procured for special forces in 2011. Re- rated improvised explosive devices as alisation of the procurement of addi- the main threat to the German forces tional night-vision devices and night deployed in Afghanistan. And the fol- gun sights was announced for the year lowing years did in fact see numerous under review and for 2013. The pro- attacks in which German soldiers were curement of further enhanced- killed or severely injured. Despite this, performance equipment is to start in the Ministry stated in June 2011 that it 2015. These announcements must be had only identified the capability gap followed by rapid implementation. in the field of route clearance, and ini- Measures that are only to take effect tiated steps to close it, in 2009. This from 2015 onwards, are of little use to statement was inaccurate. It was obvi- the forces currently deployed. ously merely intended to conceal the fact that the capability gap had already 4.4.5 Night combat qualification of been identified long before, but con- the MARDER infantry combat vehicle sciously accepted for budgetary rea- sons. The development and procure- The previous Annual Report already ment of a route clearance system had drew attention to weaknesses regarding already been examined before 2009, but the night-vision and night-combat ca- deferred in favour of improving camp pability of protected vehicles. Beyond German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 21 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______the Annual Report, the problems were the PUMA infantry combat vehicle be- specified in more detail in two interim comes available, this exposes soldiers reports submitted to the Defence Com- to the dilemma, in the event of uncer- mittee. The Defence Committee took up tain identification of enemy forces, ei- the points raised by the Parliamentary ther of having to defend themselves in Commissioner for the Armed Forces contravention of the rules of engage- and, in a budget proposal, called upon ment, or of exposing themselves to the Federal Ministry of Defence to ex- avoidable dangers by allowing enemy amine and, if necessary, implement the forces to come closer. Neither of these procurement of modern thermal imag- is acceptable. ing devices in budget year 2013 for all Type MARDER 1 A 5 infantry combat 4.4.6 Personal equipment vehicles deployed in Afghanistan. In past years, the Annual Reports re- The new thermal imaging device would peatedly addressed the inadequacy of greatly improve the unequivocal identi- the personal equipment on missions. fication of enemy forces, as demanded Improvements have been initiated, but by the rules of engagement for the use not yet completed. of own weapons. Attention has repeat- edly been drawn to the need to improve The last Annual Report already men- the night-vision and night-combat ca- tioned the plans for a "certified basket pability of the MARDER infantry com- of personal equipment". So far, the bas- bat vehicle in the framework of mission ket – from which soldiers are in future analyses by the Army. Despite this to be able to select the expedient situation, the Federal Ministry of De- equipment, depending on mission – fence has stated that there are no longer contains only few articles. The imple- plans to close the "night combat" capa- mentation and communication of this bility gap for the MARDER infantry measure need to be emphatically pur- combat vehicle. To justify this, the sued. Ministry pointed out that the MARDER infantry combat vehicle would no The procurement of body armour for a longer be needed to protect German further 1,000 members of the special military personnel in Afghanistan after operations forces to equip the crews of 2014, in addition to which, tight budget armoured and protected vehicles is to funds necessitated the prioritisation of be welcomed. In addition, further de- procurement of the new PUMA infantry velopment of the body armour for in- combat vehicle, which could be made fantry forces has also been initiated. available for operations in the near fu- The aim is now to arrive as quickly as ture. possible at results that can also benefit the soldiers, especially on the ISAF This line of argument fails to do justice mission. This also applies in relation to to the protection of the personnel de- delivery of the follow-up demand for ployed. Both of the Ministry statements "special operations forces combat jack- are currently based on assumptions that ets and trousers, tropical" and the new are in no way certain to become reality. combat clothing, operations/training. Neither can it safely be assumed that protection of the remaining German Attention must also be devoted to the soldiers after 2014 can be guaranteed equipment in supposedly peripheral even without the MARDER infantry areas, such as equipping of the UH TI- combat vehicle, nor are there depend- GER and NH 90 flying units with suit- able signs that the PUMA infantry able training equipment for strengthen- combat vehicle really will be available ing the neck muscles of the crew mem- for operations "in the near future". In bers. The neck muscles are exposed to addition to which, until such time as particular strain by the heavy helmets German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 22 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______when flying and therefore need to be that can bring them to the respective strengthened by means of correspond- theatre of operations quickly and ing training. This is not possible at the safely. They often have to take the moment, since the necessary training slower and more dangerous land route equipment is not available. for this reason. On this matter, the Fed- eral Ministry of Defence conceded that The Federal Ministry of Defence re- there was a lack of a helicopter for op- ported that rapid closing of the capabil- erations of the armed forces – primarily ity gap was not possible. The Eu- of the special operations forces – that rofighter units of the Air Force could could particularly also be deployed not spare the available training equip- under night conditions in the obstacle- ment. This is an inadequate explana- ridden landscape of urban terrain, tion, since the need did not only come needed little space to land and permit- to light a few days ago. After all, ac- ted rapid mounting and dismounting, cording to the procurement plans, both especially of commando soldiers. systems should already have been in use for several years. In view of the The Defence Committee already em- stresses and dangers existing on mis- phatically demanded the procurement sions, it must be ensured that the nec- of a fast, manoeuvrable, small helicop- essary training equipment is also avail- ter ("light utility helicopter") last year. able when the corresponding units en- The statement by the Federal Ministry ter into service. of Defence that, even given the fastest possible procurement, operational 4.5 Air transport capacities on readiness of the new helicopter could missions not be achieved before 2016, does not do justice to this demand. The Bundeswehr still lacks sufficient air transport capacities of its own, as In this context, attention should be well as helicopters for close air support drawn to the fact that the ability to res- and medical evacuation. The cue and evacuate German citizens is Bundeswehr continues to be dependent also a national responsibility. It cannot on the support of other nations in these be assumed that capacities of allied na- areas. tions are always available for this pur- pose. This task, too, must be handled The gaps in close air support and independently worldwide and requires medical evacuation are to be closed by special forces that can be provided and the TIGER support helicopter and the relocated rapidly. Consequently, the NH 90 transport helicopter as of 2013. capability gap described needs to be Against the backdrop of the planned closed as soon as possible. withdrawal of the ISAF troops from Af- ghanistan, own air transport and air 4.6 Transport to and from mis- support capacities are indispensable for sions optimum protection of German military personnel. A positive step in this re- Several petitions addressed the subject spect is that the reduction of the flying of outward and return transport of sol- hours of the CH 53 fleet for the German diers at the start and end of a mission. ISAF contingent, criticised in the 2011 In this context, the focus was on issues Annual Report, was cancelled and that relating to planning security, the flight 1,600 flying hours were again provided, duration and a destination airport close rather than 1,200. to home in Germany.

A particular capability gap exists in the The complaints expressed by the af- special operations forces. For years, fected soldiers particularly related to they have lacked a suitable helicopter the frequent deferment of departure German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 23 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______times, waiting times for outward and specialisation of the affected personnel, return flights, and excessively long whose numbers are insufficient. flight times owing to diversions and in- termediate stops. In addition, relatives This applies, for example, to the fire- complained about the distance of the fighting soldiers of a special engineer destination airports from the places of battalion. Only 80 posts are provided residence and duty locations of the re- for these specialists. Because of the turning soldiers. They were particularly long training periods, however, only 50 annoyed when, expecting the soldiers, soldiers are in fact available. Until re- they had travelled several hundred cently, these 50 soldiers had to con- kilometres to meet them, only to be told stantly provide 13 soldiers for the camp that the destination airport had been in Feyzabad and, alternating with an- changed at short notice. other special engineer battalion, a fur- ther 13 soldiers for KFOR. Only as a re- The cause of the aforementioned prob- sult of dissolution of Camp Feyzabad lems is primarily insufficient transport did the precarious personnel situation capacities, as well as dependence on of the firefighting soldiers improve the European Air Transport Command slightly. and a lack of landing contingents. The necessary improvements in this area The mission strain on the Navy Field can only be achieved by maintaining an Intelligence Troop was similarly dra- appropriate supply of reserve aircraft matic in the past. The situation there and crews. This gap cannot be closed only improved when relief came from by falling back on charter aircraft, since the Air Force and certain mission they are not always available at short commitments were eliminated. notice at the starting points and desti- nations in question and are often not The special engineers responsible for licensed for the corresponding routes. camp construction and operation are Against this backdrop, the planned de- likewise exposed to particularly great commissioning of the Airbus A 310 still stress. If the mission, the security situa- operated by the Special Air Mission tion and the duration of the stay of the Wing should be abandoned. With its mission forces permit and so require, existing equipment for roughly 100 the Defence Administration should in passengers, this could partly compen- fact take over the operation of certain, sate for the existing bottlenecks, even larger camps (referred to as "mission in- without major conversion work. frastructures") after one year. The re- maining camps are subject to the exclu- 4.7 Recuperation times sive responsibility of the armed forces. However, the "mission infrastructures" Participation in Bundeswehr missions are usually only taken over after a sub- abroad has been part of service in the stantial delay. In addition to which, the armed forces for years. Recuperation Defence Administration lacks certain times are necessary between missions. personnel resources necessary for oper- They help people to digest their experi- ating a camp, since these capabilities ences with the help of family and are no longer required for routine op- friends. According to the targets of the erations in Germany. So, even after the Federal Ministry of Defence, two mis- "mission infrastructures" have been sions are generally supposed to be taken over, special engineers still have separated by 20 months of service at to be deployed on-site, e.g. as motor home. So much for the theory. It is sergeants or waterworks servicemen. worrying to note that recuperation However, the number of available spe- times of nine months and less are the cial engineers is not sufficient for per- rule in some segments of the armed manent operation of the camps. This forces as a result of the high level of situation has already existed for several German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 24 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______years now. The employer must react by within the meaning of Section 56 Para. increasing manpower levels, be it in the 1 Civil Servants' Remuneration Act. military or the civilian sector. Doing These prerequisites were not met in the nothing, or pointing to the other sector, case of the persons in question. Never- is certainly not the solution. theless, their argument that they are in fact exposed to the same dangers and The activation of the Operational Re- stresses, is understandable. The em- serve Force (ORF) for KFOR in summer ployer is thus called upon to provide 2011, and the subsequent operations, adequate compensation. revealed how low personnel levels cur- rently are. Units that had just returned 4.9 Morale and welfare telecom- from the Afghanistan mission had to munications provide the ORF battalion immediately afterwards and were actually trans- 4.9.1 General situation ferred to Kosovo in 2011. Some soldiers were even sent to Kosovo as ORF forces Previous Annual Reports repeatedly after spending just four months at addressed the subject of the lack of op- home. portunities to get in touch with home from missions. This possibility of main- Multiple missions mean increasing taining contact with family and friends, burdens for the affected persons. They from the country of deployment or from hold the danger of personal ties to fam- on board seagoing units, by telephone ily and friends breaking down, and of or with the help of new media (e-mail, the affected persons being uprooted. video telephony, social networks) is, Fundamental, structural counteraction however, of special importance for rea- is necessary in this context. sons of welfare and care alone, but primarily also with a view to the better 4.8 Foreign duty allowance compatibility of family and service. This is also underlined by the cross- In the year under review, numerous pe- party motion initiated by members of titions were again received on the sub- the Defence Committee, which the ject of the "foreign duty allowance" Bundestag adopted at its 168th session (AVZ). Complaints from the sphere of on 22 March 2012. This motion calls the Navy were one focus. In this con- upon the Federal Government to sup- text, reports were received from mem- port modern and comprehensive mo- bers of the crews of vessels that were rale and welfare telecommunications. deployed in the immediate vicinity of According to the resolution, the aim an operation, without themselves be- must be free telephone calls to Ger- longing to a contingent. The personnel many from missions. On this subject, on the vessels in question found them- the Federal Ministry of Defence stated selves exposed to the same dangers and that free calls could be realised from stresses, and complained about not re- mid-2015 at the earliest in the context ceiving an AVZ. of a follow-up contract to be put up for tender. An existing comparison by the Federal Ministry of Defence between mandated A number of improvements are already and non-mandated service at sea re- to be seen. For instance, there is a lar- veals a net financial difference of € 100 ger number of single booths where per month in the specimen case se- people can telephone or Skype undis- lected. turbed. Some camps now also offer the possibility of going online not only in The essential prerequisite for the grant- rooms and containers provided for this ing of AVZ is participation in a mission purpose, but also by WLAN in the ac- mandated by the German Bundestag commodation. Provided the required German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 25 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______bandwidth is available, military per- fare and recreation network, despite the sonnel can then contact their families advice given by the Parliamentary at home by video telephony (Skype) Commissioner for the Armed Forces. with the necessary privacy. The aim The length of the procurement project must be to provide this standard in all was given as the reason for this. How- camps. ever, at least a newer type of INMAR- SAT F system was installed. 4.9.2 Morale and welfare telecom- munications on board seagoing units Regrettably, it can already been fore- seen that, owing to their forthcoming Even outside missions, the crews of elimination, older units, in particular, boats and ships are dependent on func- will no longer benefit from the pro- tioning morale and welfare telecom- curement projects for improving morale munications, owing to their long ab- and welfare telecommunications. In sences from home. While the possibili- addition, the timelines clearly indicate ties for morale and welfare telecommu- that the subject is still not being tackled nications on land-based missions with the necessary emphasis. One ex- abroad have improved noticeably in re- ample of this slow implementation is cent years, albeit slowly, the situation the equipping of the fleet service ships on seagoing units is still predominantly with satellite antennas for television unsatisfactory. reception at sea. Owing to technical problems, it took seven years to install Only on the newer types of combat them. support ships and frigates, on which a powerful SATCOM Bw SHF satellite 4.10 Provision of sports equipment communication system has already on board seagoing units been installed, can private calls now also be made round the clock and at In addition to regular participation in low cost via the official telephone con- foreign missions of the Bundeswehr, nections. For reasons of security, video the personnel of seagoing units of the telephony via Skype requires a separate Navy is also faced by special challenges morale, welfare and recreation network, during training as a result of long peri- the planning and procurement of which ods of absence from home. has only just begun. On the other units, e.g. on tenders, it is still the case that The improvement of the sports equip- only relatively old, official satellite ment on seagoing units, promised by communication systems (INMARSAT) the Navy, continues to make only slow are available that can also be used for progress. Following conclusion of the telephony for morale and welfare pur- "Sport on Board" pilot project, for poses in individual instances. How- which orders were already issued in ever, the cost of 66 cents per minute is 2008, the provision of funds for sports very high. In addition, crews report that equipment suitable for installation no provision is made for private use of cannot be expected until 2015. It has the official INMARSAT system on their already been established in this context units, except in emergencies. that the units to be decommissioned by 2019 will no longer be taken into ac- In the medium term, smaller units are count. Members of the crews of the af- also to be equipped with the more fected units will therefore have to con- powerful satellite communication sys- tinue to fall back on sports equipment tems, which can then also be used for and facilities they have purchased morale and welfare purposes. Unfortu- themselves or set up provisionally. nately, the long period that the Gorch Fock spent in dock in 2012 was not Apart from equipping the boats and used to install an efficient morale, wel- ships, it would be desirable if crew German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 26 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______members could also be offered an at- was initially not possible to identify the tractive range of sports opportunities in offenders. the home port after completing a lengthy period at sea. The investigations have since pro- gressed as follows: 4.11 Mazar-e-Sharif airport Since 2006, soldiers have been em- There are problems with air traffic con- ployed at Müritz Material De- trol at Mazar-e-Sharif airport, as be- pot/Rechlin Distribution Centre to sup- came apparent in the framework of vis- port the regular personnel, as well as to its to the troops and fact-finding visits. load and sort the unaccompanied bag- The personnel working in the airport's gage of personnel from the mission ar- tower has to cope with a high volume eas, primarily from Afghanistan. The of air traffic. It was reported that only seconded soldiers are responsible for three air traffic controllers per shift sorting, loading and unloading the were available for this purpose. In addi- items of baggage. tion, there were communication prob- lems with the crews of foreign aircraft In the year under review, a group of of- who spoke only poor English. Jammers fenders was identified, who had used by military vehicles interfered opened items of baggage and unlaw- with the radio equipment in the tower, fully appropriated private and official and there was no air traffic control ra- items. Based on the results of the fur- dar. ther investigations, a total of eight pri- vate soldiers and two sergeants have so The complaints were confirmed, but far been dismissed from the the Federal Ministry of Defence did not Bundeswehr. It can be assumed that the rate them as being serious enough to incidences have thus been cleared up prevent flight operations from being and the cause of the unlawful opening continued. The risk being taken in this of the items of baggage and the thefts way should not be underestimated. Par- has been eliminated. ticularly the absence of an air traffic control radar for vertical separation of 4.13 Military post the incoming aircraft appears worrying in view of the major increase in civilian Similarly, it was already reported in the air traffic. The air traffic controllers previous Annual Report that letters doubt whether the safety of flight op- from German soldiers in Afghanistan erations is still guaranteed under these had been opened on the way to Ger- circumstances. In view of the stress to many and had reached the addressees which the air traffic controllers are ex- in this condition, in some cases even posed, and particularly the responsibil- without contents. Darmstadt Depart- ity they bear, it appears indefensible to ment of Public Prosecution therefore leave them on their own with their jus- began investigations regarding sus- tified concern regarding air traffic pected theft and breach of the privacy safety. of mail.

4.12 Baggage transport In the year under review and following extensive and very time-consuming in- It was reported in the last Annual Re- vestigations, the Department arrived at port that there had been several cases of the result that, after exhausting every unauthorised opening of unaccompa- option for determining the facts of the nied baggage and theft of personal and case, it was not possible either to iden- official items. These cases particularly tify an offender, or to unequivocally es- involved the theft of alcohol, cigarettes tablish the point in the military post and perfume. With one exception, it transport chain at which the postal German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 27 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______items had been damaged or opened soldiers from the German KFOR con- without authorisation. Moreover, the tingent also reported loss of, and dam- Department of Public Prosecution age to, their military post consignments could also not definitely rule out the in January 2012. possibility that the opening of the mili- tary post letters and the associated loss The overall facts and circumstances of the contents of the consignments were extremely complicated owing to were attributable to technical faults the complex responsibilities, the long during sorting of the post. The outcome postal transport route, the numerous was that the preliminary investigations agencies and persons involved in the were dropped in accordance with Sec- process, and the irregularities identi- tion 170 Para. 2 of the Code of Criminal fied over an extended period. No con- Procedure. crete suspicion against individuals emerged in the course of the investiga- The occurrences investigated by the tions. Nor was it possible to make any Department of Public Prosecution statement regarding the locations at ranged from simple damage or the which military post consignments had complete loss of postal items, all the been lost, damaged or unlawfully way to the exchange or absence of opened. items sent in the military post con- signment. There was a remarkably large To at least ensure safe and complete number of cases where envelopes were transport of military post in the future, damaged and storage media sent in independently of this, the Military Post them were reported as missing. While Office instructed all agencies to check the German Post Office handles some for adequate packing of letters in the 60 million letters per day and sorts out framework of their operational capabili- roughly 30 to 40 storage media owing ties, and to request the sender to repack to damage to the consignment, the fig- them, where appropriate. In addition, ure for the Bundeswehr was already 10 flyers were distributed to remind mili- storage media among just 300,000 con- tary personnel in all mission areas that signments per year. In addition, all of data carriers should only be sent in these were lost from consignments from padded packaging or the shippers de- one mission area. signed for the purpose.

Regardless of this, the Department of Finally, the soldiers were instructed to Public Prosecution noted that possibili- file a request for tracing in the event of ties for unauthorised access to the con- damage or suspected loss, or to com- signments existed during transport of plain about the postal consignment as the consignments, both in the sphere of soon as possible – but within seven the OP North and in Germany, and that days at most – and report the facts and even damaged post could have got circumstances to the disciplinary supe- through to the recipient without this rior. being noticed by the personnel in the military post facilities. In view of these Independently of the damaged con- results of the investigations, I requested signments reported, a civilian transport the Federal Minister of Defence to en- vehicle containing military post was sure appropriate security of the military opened without authorisation outside post routes and elimination of the pos- Prizren Camp in June 2012. Two of five sibilities for unauthorised access to boxes of post were forced open. Some military post consignments that still ex- parcels were damaged. It was impossi- ist. ble to establish whether letters had been stolen. The strongbox of Prizren In addition to the older complaints Military Post Office was opened. Of the from the sphere of the OP North, 12 400 prepaid military post letters it con- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 28 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______tained, 183 remained intact, 10 were The operational conditions changed torn up and 207 were missing. Follow- substantially in the course of the mis- ing this incident, the German KFOR sions. Particularly in Afghanistan, contingent earmarked a separate park- German soldiers increasingly became ing area for the military post trucks in- involved in combat action or fell victim side Prizren Camp. Incoming vehicles to attacks. Against this backdrop, the carrying military post are now parked "Combat" Foreign Duty Medal was in- safely on this area in sight of the camp stituted as the fourth class of the gate security guard, regardless of the Bundeswehr Foreign Duty Medal in time of day. November 2010. It can be awarded to persons who have taken active part in Particularly against the backdrop of the combat action on at least one occasion, special significance of a functional and or who have suffered terrorist or mili- trustworthy military postal service for tary violence under great personal military personnel in the mission areas threat. The Foreign Duty Medal of the of the Bundeswehr, it is important to "Combat" class is awarded for events consistently pursue possible offences in after 28 April 2009 and once only. this sphere, and to eliminate weak- nesses and security gaps found in the The Bundeswehr Foreign Duty Medal military postal service. This is the only should sensibly always be awarded possible way of restoring the shattered soon after the reason for the honour confidence in the security of the mili- and in dignified form. In the year under tary postal service. The numerous per- review, there were isolated complaints, sonnel of the Military Post Office also both from active soldiers and from sol- have a particular interest in this. Ac- diers who had already retired regularly cording to the results of the investiga- from service, that they had still not tions conducted by the Department of been awarded the "Combat" class For- Public Prosecution and the information eign Duty Medal to which they were available to the Parliamentary Commis- entitled, despite having been involved sioner for the Armed Forces, they have in combat in Afghanistan in 2009 or no part in the conspicuous incidents 2010. Some of them pointed out in described. their petitions that various other com- rades should rightfully also have re- 4.14 Award of the Bundeswehr ceived this honour. In contrast, others Foreign Duty Medal complained about the "inflationary" award of the Combat medal. It is there- The Bundeswehr Foreign Duty Medal fore very important to define even comes in three classes – Bronze, Silver clearer and more transparent criteria for and Gold – and is awarded to military award of the medals in the future, as and civilian personnel of the well as time limits to be strictly ob- Bundeswehr as a visible sign of partici- served for their presentation, and also pation in missions or special duties to communicate them to the soldiers. abroad in the framework of humanitar- ian, peace-keeping or peace-making In the framework of reviewing the old measures. cases from 2009 and 2010, inadequa- cies in processing were often found be- In addition to this aim of creating visi- cause the responsible agencies were, for ble recognition of service, the Foreign various reasons, at first obviously over- Duty Medal is, according to the ideas of taxed by the job of checking who is ac- the Federal Minister of Defence, also to tually entitled to this award. Awarding be a prerequisite for recognition of the an honour almost two years or more af- status as veteran following retirement ter the event on which the award is from active service. based, is clearly too late. Especially among soldiers who had already retired German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 29 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______regularly from the service of the keeping his or her job and the avoid- Bundeswehr, this created the impres- ance of a change of school for the chil- sion that the Bundeswehr was no dren, accepting the need to commute in longer interested in awarding the return. To reduce this commuting, it "Combat" Foreign Duty Medal to former was already proposed in the preceding soldiers. Annual Reports, in view of the impend- ing structural reform of the Bundeswehr, that location decisions be 5 Compatibility of family and taken in the spirit of longer-term as- service signment perspectives and that military personnel and their families be given In the year under review, there was planning security. Unfortunately, this again a marked increase in the number chance has been passed up. Rather, the of petitions complaining about the in- stresses of a "commuter army" have adequate compatibility of family and been consolidated by the new structure. service. Younger officers and senior NCOs, in particular, see themselves as The majority of soldiers assume that being affected by this. The subject is the reorientation of the Bundeswehr, also regularly addressed during visits to with its complex restructuring and the the troops. For instance, during a visit resultant personnel measures, will im- to Helmut Schmidt University in Ham- pose burdens on them and their fami- burg in November 2012, the complaint lies. This is confirmed by a recent was voiced that not a single flat for study by Chemnitz University of Tech- families was available there. It is right nology that was prepared on behalf of and important that the necessities exist- the Bundeswehr Association. At the ing in this area be emphatically articu- same time, the petitions also expressed lated in order to increase the awareness understanding for the fact that such a of those responsible. This does not ig- comprehensive reform cannot go off nore the fact that approaches for mak- without complications. However, they ing the Bundeswehr more family- quite rightly demand transparency and friendly have been developed in recent planning security. years. However, they are not yet suffi- cient – they need to be consistently Many soldiers continue to be separated pursued, implemented and expanded. from their families and their social en- vironment during the week as a result Not only young families are dependent of their duty. However, social support on a family-compatible workplace. Car- is indispensable, not only with a view ing for elderly relatives is also becom- to the model of the "citizen in uniform", ing increasingly important, meaning but particularly also as regards the di- that the compatibility of family and verse service commitments, in order to service plays an important role for mili- ensure job satisfaction, and thus satis- tary personnel in every phase of life. faction with life, as well as the neces- sary identification with the objectives 5.1 Close-to-home assignment and of the employer. The importance of duration of assignment be- these factors must not be underesti- tween missions abroad mated, not only for the attractiveness of an army, but also for its functional ca- One important factor in relation to the pacity. compatibility of family and service is close-to-home assignment. Military Above and beyond this, it is incompre- families are moving less and less often hensible why attractiveness aspects, in the event of a change of post. In- such as a parent-friendly infrastructure, stead, they give priority to the family are so little to be seen in the location environment, particularly to the spouse decisions taken. This is all the harder German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 30 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______to understand, given that the "family them to give soldiers a realistic over- friendliness" factor is of outstanding view of their future career opportuni- importance when it comes to recruiting ties and the possibilities for regional young personnel and particularly for assignment. However, it is not part of establishing lasting ties with the armed the job to give comrades the impression forces. It cannot be that young, well- of being superfluous. trained soldiers do not consider pro- longing their period of service, or being Regardless of structural changes, plan- accepted into service as a career sol- ning security in connection with as- dier, because they are left on their own signment decisions is an essential right with issues of child care, caring for of all soldiers vis-à-vis the employer relatives or the desire to reunite the that results from the concept of welfare family. The idea of curtailing the pe- and care. This most definitely applies riod of service is expressed far too often to military families with children of as a result. school age who are willing to move. It is unacceptable that a soldier with two On visits to the troops, discussion part- children to be enrolled in school still ners often addressed the existing inse- does not know at the end of July, where curity and uncertainty regarding further he is to be transferred to with effect assignment planning. There were also from 1 October. numerous references to this in the peti- tions. For instance, a petty officer, who Military families are particularly af- was about to become a father for the fected by the federal school system, second time and was to be transferred which is hard to reconcile with the for the fifth time in his ten years of ser- mobility demanded today. Not rarely vice, aptly described his situation with do military families decide against the words that he did not know where moving to a new duty location because the journey would take him. of the possible need to change schools. New approaches to solving this prob- According to a staff sergeant who was lem should be found. France, for exam- transferred to a new duty location, ple, has special boarding schools for there was nothing to be seen of the fre- the children of army members. A first, quently-cited principle "we have to helpful step for the affected German look after everyone". This, too, reflects military families would be to at least the perception of the troops. In particu- adapt transfers to the start of the school lar, transfer to locations that many peo- year. ple considered to be unattractive was the subject of a number of petitions. Military couples with children are in- creasingly often describing their diffi- In addition, there were also complaints culties in realising a shared family life. about a lack of understanding and sen- The employer needs to provide support sitivity on the part of individual plan- in this respect. It is obliged to do so by ners. the duty of care defined in Section 31 of the Soldiers' Act, not only vis-à-vis Thus, a sergeant who had signed up for both spouses, but also vis-à-vis the 12 years was advised to curtail his pe- children. Assignment options reason- riod of service owing to the impossibil- able for the family should be identified ity of close-to-home assignment. This ahead of transfers, in close coordina- would have meant him retiring with a tion between the responsible personnel substantially lower transition allow- planners. A corresponding note in the ance. Understandably, he did not con- personnel records would facilitate this sider this to be a serious alternative. and could be made with the consent of Giving advice is part of the job of a both soldiers. This consent would also planner. It certainly makes sense for avoid any collision with the right of the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 31 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______individual to determine the use of At home, the separation phase during his/her data, which the Federal Minis- the week can be alleviated by visual try of Defence has so far cited as an ob- contact via Skype at some locations. stacle to inclusion of these data in the This should be guaranteed at all loca- basic personnel file. tions, and most definitely on missions abroad. It is clear that families fundamentally need a stable space. A commuting par- Not only family life is greatly impaired ent, who only sees the family at week- by commuting. Commuting also makes ends, cannot adequately participate in a people ill, as documented by the Ab- child's education and development. senteeism Report 2012 of the Allge- This is particularly true if commuting meine Ortskrankenkassen local health has – as in the case of some petitioners insurance funds and a recent study by – already been going on for 16 or even the Techniker Krankenkasse health in- 20 years, or if time is spent on missions surance fund. In particular, there is a abroad. Affected soldiers suffer if their growing incidence of psychological duties exclude them from family life, disorders, such as burn-out and depres- their partners have to take important sion. decisions on their own and difficult behavioural mechanisms develop, par- It is all the more important that the ticularly in the children. However, the problem of reconciling duty and family children likewise suffer in such family life be scientifically documented in all situations, their reactions not infre- its numerous facets as a basis for neces- quently including developmental prob- sary changes. It is pleasing that the lems or a decline in scholastic perform- Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sci- ance. One petitioner wrote that his son ences is currently conducting a scien- had developed a particularly close tific study on the subject on behalf of bond with him during his leave and the Federal Ministry of Defence. This suffered from panic attacks when he study should now be concluded as was not in his vicinity. For the daugh- soon as possible and also indicate op- ter of another petitioner, every goodbye tions that go beyond the current ap- became a torture. He said she started to proaches. cry even if he left the house only briefly. Without changes in the assignment concepts of the individual careers that Moreover, petitioners complain that permit longer or long-term assignments commuting greatly shortens the time at one location, the location cutbacks actually available for the family at the will lead to a further increase in the weekend. Quite a few soldiers regularly frequency of transfers in the short and commute only once every two or three medium term. weekends because of the occasionally extreme distances between home and The 2011 Annual Report already garrison, as well as the high cost of pointed out that the affected persons travelling home by car. If changing find it hard to understand why they trains is necessary, rail travel is often serve close to home, but are neverthe- not an alternative because of the unrea- less repeatedly separated from their sonably long journey times of more relatives as a result of training courses. than 12 hours in some cases. It is also This situation could have been eased hard to understand why the journey to by regional grouping of users and train- training courses is often scheduled for a ing facilities. The comprehensive Sunday evening, this shortening the preparations for missions must also be weekend and thus also the time for the mentioned in this context. There are family. repeatedly complaints that exercises are deferred at short notice, are held German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 32 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______during holiday times, at weekends or for family reasons occasionally meet on public holidays, or are so extensive with a lack of understanding. For in- that they dramatically shorten the peri- stance, an application for a transfer in ods between missions. This not only order to care for a grandmother with an reduces the days of shared family life, 80% disability was called "laughable". but also strains the health of the sol- It is equally inappropriate to suggest to diers. It is indisputable that, as a result a soldier that he apply for curtailment of new changes in the situation, mis- of his period of service because he does sion preparations always necessitate not wish to be sent on a mission in adaptation of the training, the person- view of the birth of his child. It also nel and the level of information. How- gives cause for concern when assess- ever, limits must be drawn in relation ments contain global, negative judge- to the individual soldier. ments on the basis of family situations. The judgement that a servicewoman's This not least applies in relation to the performance had deteriorated substan- frequency of deployment of soldiers on tially because she had become a special assignments. This is criticised mother, was quite simply contrary to time and again in discussions during the law. visits to the troops. To be welcomed in this context is the stipulation in the The Manual on the Compatibility of Guidelines for the Reorientation of the Family Life and Service in the Armed Bundeswehr of 4 April 2012, according Forces (General Handout (AU) 1/500) to which a deployment planning and expressly emphasises that improving implementation system of four months the compatibility of family and service on a mission and twenty months be- in the armed forces is an essential lead- tween missions is to be targeted, and ership task and that the implementa- the intervals are to be plannable and re- tion and application of corresponding liable. This can, however, only be guar- measures are subject to supervision. It anteed by far-sighted personnel plan- is also stipulated that an awareness of ning that keeps a sufficiently large res- family-friendly framework conditions ervoir of personnel available, even for is to be developed and promoted in all special assignments. However, there is persons bearing responsibility. This so far generally no corresponding res- must establish itself more as a part of ervoir, nor are there any signs of a res- leadership culture and be put into daily ervoir of this kind being created. practice. Since deficits obviously exist in this field, even greater attention 5.2 Conduct of superiors regard- should be paid to this aspect in leader- ing family needs ship training.

In the year under review, there were re- Transfers shape the career of soldiers. grettably numerous reports on the lack Timely information on the subject of understanding of superiors for diffi- should be a matter of course, as should cult family situations. It could be seen information on the framework condi- from the petitions that there was occa- tions. This has so far unfortunately not sionally a lack of real family- been the case in connection with for- friendliness. Existing room for discre- eign assignments. Rather, the affected tion was not used, and reactions were persons were in the past merely regu- unreasonable. Examples include rejec- larly informed that soldiers deployed tion of the application of a training abroad are paid foreign duty allowance course participant, who wished to in addition to their military pay. This is travel to the examination by private not enough, since reference to the for- passenger car and subsequently drive to eign duty allowance does not answer his wife's confinement. Similarly, ap- numerous questions, e.g. regarding the plications for transfers close to home occupational activity and financial se- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 33 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______curity of the spouse or partner, as well drawn up. The demand at other as of the relatives. Bundeswehr locations is, however, merely to be covered by the acquisition Only an enquiry submitted by the Par- of rights to places. There are plans to liamentary Commissioner for the acquire rights to places, or additional Armed Forces to the Federal Ministry rights to places, at the locations in of Labour and Social Affairs led to a Dresden, Fassberg, Heide, Nienburg, statement now being issued that con- Leipzig and Westerstede in 2013. This tains detailed information on the is certainly better than nothing, but it is framework conditions for spouses who hard to see why the Bundeswehr does also move. The Federal Ministry of De- not likewise set up its own child-care fence has arranged for this information facilities at large-scale locations of this to in future be distributed in suitable kind. Soldiers with young children form to all military and civilian em- rightly feel that the Federal Govern- ployees envisaged for foreign assign- ment is pulling their leg when it ments. launches a "Development Programme on Corporate Child Care" and promotes 5.3 Child care the creation of new care places for children under the age of three in trade The Federal Ministry for Family Af- and industry, while at the same time fairs, Senior Citizens, Women and doing so only insufficiently and in any- Youth quite rightly draws attention, in thing but exemplary manner in its own full-page advertisements aimed at busi- sphere of the Bundeswehr for reasons ness enterprises, to the fact that the in- of cost. volvement of companies in child care is good "for everyone": for the company, Once again, the example of the French for the female and the male employees, Army shows what measures are possi- and for their children. This is particu- ble in order to support soldiers in rec- larly applicable to the Bundeswehr, in onciling their official duties with fam- view of the special features of service ily commitments. France has 43 kin- in this "enterprise", such as irregular dergartens specifically for soldiers' working hours, secondments and a children, as well as rights to places in need to commute. The offers of child general kindergartens. An application care available today, and also those tar- for financial compensation can be filed geted for the future, in no way do jus- if soldiers' working times result in extra tice to the situation. costs for child care. In contrast, and de- spite emphatic urging on the part of the Although there are positive develop- Parliamentary Commissioner for the ments in individual areas that should Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr still re- be swiftly advanced, the envisaged fuses to grant free attendance of its own measures are in no way sufficient. For child day-care centre at the Ministry of instance, the plans to create individual Defence in Bonn, although the laws of in-house kindergartens in the North Rhine-Westphalia stipulate that Bundeswehr have become more con- attendance of a child day-care centre is crete. Corresponding child-care facili- free of charge. ties are supposed and expected to open in 2014 at locations where permanent The issue of finding temporary child demand is guaranteed, i.e. at the care at short notice is also of relevance Bundeswehr University in Munich and to members of the Bundeswehr time the Bundeswehr Hospitals in Koblenz, and again when soldiers have to attend Ulm and Berlin. Beyond this, an urgent training courses. Municipal institutions need was also recognised at the loca- regularly refuse to accept children, be- tions in Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, cause care is often required for a period and corresponding plans are being of less than four weeks. The conse- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 34 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______quence of these circumstances is that there are no far no signs of this in the training courses cannot be attended. concrete structure. This entails a danger of disadvantages in training and career terms. The It is said that the problem is moreover Bundeswehr aims to counteract this to be counteracted by a host of individ- situation by means of an overall con- ual measures. For example, passing of cept for all educational institutions that the Specialist Personnel Recruitment is to be elaborated by spring 2013. This Act created the opportunity for military should lead, as soon as possible, to personnel to engage in less than half- binding, contractual arrangements with time employment during their parental municipal child day-care centres and leave. This offer is hardy attractive child-minders at the location of the from the financial point of view, since training facility. Where Bundeswehr- the income from this kind of part-time operated child day-care centres are cre- employment often leads to reduction of ated, the plans should include a corre- the amount of parental allowance ow- sponding reservoir to cover the de- ing to the host of adjustment regula- mand. tions in the Federal Act on Parental Al- lowance and Parental Leave. Moreover, 5.4 Reimbursement of additional partial utilisation of established posts child-care costs resulting from and the occupation of vacancies should basic, advanced and continua- also be possible. However, positive ef- tion training fects of these new regulations are al- ways dependent on the availability of Entry into force of the Accompanying corresponding specialist personnel at Act for the Reform of the Bundeswehr short notice. on 26 July 2012 also amended Section 10 Para. 2 of the Act on Equal Oppor- Consequently, it still appears that the tunities for Female and Male Military problem of family-related vacancies can Personnel of the Bundeswehr. This only be effectively counteracted by cre- means that the legal prerequisites now ating a sufficiently large reservoir of exist for parents to apply for reim- personnel, e.g. in the form of a "standby bursement of unavoidable, additionally personnel pool", who benefit from in- incurred child-care costs. If necessary, centive pay. 6 Euros per hour can be reimbursed for each child, up to a maximum of 36 Eu- 5.6 Parental leave ros per day. In the year under review, there were 5.5 Family-related vacancies again complaints regarding the long time taken to process applications for The problem of finding replacement parental leave, the consequence being personnel during parental leave and that parental allowance could not be part-time work has still not been granted in time, or that pay was not solved. It is regrettable that the original stopped in time and had to be claimed announcement of the Federal Ministry back. While criticism of the work of the of Defence has not been pursued fur- military district administrative offices ther, according to which family-related was often involved in past years, there absence would in future be taken into are now seen to be omissions and errors account by using a reservoir of person- during processing in the units and the nel in the framework of elaborating a personnel management agencies. Thus, new personnel structure model. In- applications were left unprocessed, or stead, it is pointed out that the now the corresponding data were not en- complete plans for more robust opera- tered. tional structures partly cover duties re- dundantly by means of posts. However, German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 35 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

It could moreover be seen that affected 6 Women in the armed forces persons suffer inequitable hardship even if the releasing agency responsible 18,494 women were serving in the for dealing with applications for paren- armed forces on 31 December 2012, this tal leave issues a decision "no later than representing a total of 9.65 percent. ten days before the start" of parental This figure includes 1,698 career sol- leave, in accordance with the imple- diers, 16,186 temporary-career volun- menting provisions regarding the Pa- teers and 610 military service volun- rental Leave Ordinance for Servicemen teers. Despite continuous increases, it and Women – because this leaves af- has not yet been possible to achieve the fected parents only little time to take quotas of 50 percent in the Medical the next step of applying for parental Service and 15 percent in the remain- allowance, which is intended to replace ing careers, prescribed in the Act on their pay. The aforementioned regula- Equal Opportunities for Female and tions need to be brought into line with Male Military Personnel of the reality in this respect. Bundeswehr. The proportion of women is particularly low among military ser- 5.7 Telework vice volunteers. Consequently, women should be addressed and recruited as a Telework can make an important con- target group of their own more than in tribution to reconciling family life with the past. the demands of official duties. People gladly avail themselves of this offer, It is regrettable that no progress can yet and it helps many families in difficult been seen regarding the more feminine situations. dress uniform that many servicewomen would like. In this context, greater con- Now that the very extensive and time- sideration should be given to the fact consuming contract negotiations be- that the appearance of servicewomen in tween the Bundeswehr and the com- public is a significant advertising factor pany responsible for technical realisa- for interested young women. tion have been concluded, the roll-out has begun. Now, however, holders of All in all, the petitions received from telework jobs that have already been servicewomen in the year under review approved are complaining about prob- did not reveal any signs of particular, lems with setting up their workplaces. gender-specific problems. In this re- The complaints result from the wording spect, it will be interesting to see the of the aforementioned contract. The results of the study by the Bundeswehr soldiers often already have the DSL Institute of Social Sciences, which was connection necessary for a telework- announced some time ago, but has not place. However, these online links can yet been published, and updates the only be used if they are provided by the "Truppenbild mit Dame" ("Troop Por- contract partner with whom the com- trait with Lady") study of 2008. pany responsible for technical realisa- tion cooperates. This circumstance is 6.1 Missions abroad of service- unacceptable to the affected persons, women with children under who are often urgently dependent on the age of three installation of the teleworkplace. The now pending negotiations on a follow- It was reported on several occasions up contract for the technical implemen- during visits to the troops that a num- tation of teleworkplaces should be con- ber of servicewomen with children un- cluded with a corresponding solution der the age of three are taking part, or as soon as possible. have taken part, in missions abroad. According to the Federal Ministry of Defence, they do so voluntarily and any German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 36 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______refusal by the affected mothers is re- top-rank assignments being correspond- spected. Enlistments, if any, are proba- ingly small. Posts in Pay Grades A 16 to bly an exception. B 3 are currently held by ten women, and one woman has the rank of surgeon Regardless of this, the problem exists general. Disregarding the top positions, that these women could find them- it can be noted that the proportion of selves exposed to the pressure of group women in the Medical Service in Pay dynamics and that their "voluntary" Grades A 13 and A 14 has in the mean- participation possibly results more time reached a good level. In contrast, from comradely behaviour. They do not women are still far behind in Pay Grade want to burden their comrades with A 15. The Parliamentary Commissioner having to go abroad on a mission an for the Armed Forces will keep a additional time for lack of other avail- watchful eye on developments in this able personnel. Mothers of children sector. under the age of three must not be ex- posed to a conflict of this kind. The re- 6.3 Military Gender Equality Offi- lationship between mother and child is cers particularly important, especially in the first few years of life. This is also being As part of the reorganisation of the discussed from other points of view. Bundeswehr, a number of civilian ma- For instance, proposals were recently jor organisational elements were cre- made in the parliamentary sphere that ated that are staffed by both civilian the working time of young parents be and military personnel, or in which – reduced to 30 hours per week. To avoid as in the Federal Office of Bundeswehr the separation of young mothers from Personnel Management – fundamental their children as a result of missions decisions regarding assignment plan- abroad, it would be necessary to have ning are taken by military personnel. additional personnel permanently As in the previous structures, the par- available that is capable of filling the ticipation of military Gender Equality anticipated gaps. Officers is necessary here. However, there is currently no provision for this. 6.2 Career development of ser- To put them on the necessary legal vicewomen footing, the definition of 'agency' in Section 4 Para. 3 of the Act on Equal The 2010 Annual Report addressed the Opportunities for Female and Male small number of servicewomen in lead- Military Personnel of the Bundeswehr ing positions in the Medical Service. needs to be adapted to the changed The Federal Ministry of Defence has in situation resulting from the new struc- the meantime taken up this subject. It tures. It is hard to understand why this reported that the proportion of female has not yet been done. Medical Service officers had only been increasing steadily since a career in the Medical Service had been opened up to 7 Sexual encroachments female Medical Service officer cadets in 1989, and that promotion, e.g. to Pay Particular attention was attracted by Grade A 16, was only given after 25 reports concerning the rape of a ser- years of service in accordance with the vicewoman at the Army Aviation generally valid rules. Although the ca- School in Bückeburg. This case was re- reer had already been opened up to fe- ported to the Parliamentary Commis- male applicants with an academic de- sioner for the Armed Forces as a so- gree in 1975, only a small number of called "serious incident", like all other female Medical Service officers with cases coming to light in the the status of career soldier came from Bundeswehr where offences against this circle, the proportion of women in sexual self-determination could be in- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 37 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______volved. The Parliamentary Commis- situation can be expected from the new sioner has himself informed of the re- study by the Bundeswehr Institute of sults of the disciplinary or criminal in- Social Sciences on the situation of vestigations, to ensure that there are no women in the Bundeswehr, which has omissions in the Bundeswehr in the been announced, but not yet published. framework of the investigations. 50 cases of serious incidents of a sexual Inhibitions about disclosing incidents nature were reported in the year under with a sexual background are doubtless review. They included 16 cases where greater than in connection with other servicewomen were the victims and occurrences. However, a report, a talk servicemen the offenders. This year, as with the Gender Equality Officer, pos- also in the preceding years, cases of sibly with the chaplain, or a petition to rape were, fortunately, an absolute ex- the Parliamentary Commissioner for the ception. The great majority of the of- Armed Forces, is necessary in order to fences involved inappropriate physical be able to stop the respective offender contact and verbal sexual harassment. and prevent this kind of misconduct vis-à-vis other comrades. Superiors Three of the cases reported related to should make this clear time and again. encroachments in which men were in- An appeal must be made to the affected volved on both sides. In the other cases, persons to pluck up the courage to con- the reported encroachments by male fide in one of the persons mentioned. soldiers were directed at female civil- Any and every sexual encroachment ians, mostly outside the Bundeswehr. must be condemned. In connection Four serious incidents involving a sus- with verbal harassment, it is striking to picion of child pornography were re- note that some of the offenders totally ported in 2012. In these cases, the sol- fail to perceive that they have done diers were accused of possessing, and wrong. Superiors should therefore also in some instances disseminating, pho- provide more information and educa- tographs and videos containing child tion in this respect. Apart from this, it pornography. Accusations of exhibi- is also of decisive importance that the tionism were involved in four cases. Bundeswehr react appropriately when a potential case of sexual encroachment The total of 50 serious incidents re- is reported. According to the informa- ported contrasts with just seven cases tion available to me, this has been the of petitions involving accusations of case in instances when an encroach- sexual encroachment. Four of these ment of this kind was successfully cases were already known as serious proven. The acts were punished appro- incidents. The remaining petitions pre- priately following corresponding dominantly related to verbal harass- criminal or disciplinary investigation. ment.

Above and beyond the known cases, 8 Voluntary military service the possibility cannot be ruled out that there are also numerous undetected of- Voluntary military service was intro- fences, because the affected persons, duced more than a year ago, and the female or male, do not report them. Federal Ministry of Defence has now Thus, based on an anonymous survey drawn up a first review on the basis of conducted in 2005, the 2008 study by an evaluation study by the Bundeswehr the Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sci- Institute of Social Sciences, parts of ences, entitled "Truppenbild mit which are already available. On the Dame", arrives at the result that sexual whole, the experience acquired in the harassment of servicewomen in the troops so far is rated positively, but Bundeswehr is in no way a negligible there is also seen to be a need for im- phenomenon. Insights into the current provement. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 38 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

tice whereby "new enlistment takes For example, the study by the Federal priority over re-enlistment". Quite of- Ministry of Defence arrives at the con- ten, military service volunteers had clusion that voluntary military service been given the hope of being accepted can be developed into an important in- into service by their superiors – such as strument for personnel recruitment. the company commander or the senior However, it also says that this would personnel NCO – only to find later that make it necessary to provide corre- this hope could not be realised. In some sponding posts for the change of status cases, this led to the curious situation from military service volunteer to tem- that, after completing their time, mili- porary-career volunteer. This can only tary service volunteers had to apply be confirmed. However, reality does again and go through the recruitment not do justice to this ambition, since procedure for temporary-career volun- current practice is obviously based teers. Both the bureaucratic effort and more on the policy of preferring "new the resultant gaps in the professional enlistment before re-enlistment". curriculum vitae of the affected persons could have been avoided. The petitions from military service vol- unteers primarily related to complaints The Federal Ministry of Defence does regarding the rejection of applications not dispute that greater importance is to be accepted into service as a tempo- attached to the enrolment of soldiers rary-career volunteer, especially in the with no prior service through external rank and file. Likewise criticised was personnel recruitment than to the the excessively long time taken to proc- change of status of military service vol- ess the corresponding applications. unteers already serving. Based on Per- During visits to the troops, too, there sonnel Structure Model 185, it essen- were repeatedly complaints about the tially justifies this with a "viable, re- lack of opportunities for military ser- generative, age- and structure-oriented vice volunteers to be kept on. For ex- personnel structure", pointing out that ample, based on a written survey con- military service volunteers had con- ducted by him among roughly 300 re- sciously decided in favour of a shorter cruits from four start dates regarding period of service and against service as the advice given by the selection and a temporary-career volunteer. Quite induction offices, the commander of a apart from the fact that this does not do company of recruits reported that some justice to the aim of fair treatment for of the soldiers had had a false impres- military service volunteers, is it sur- sion of the procedures and possibilities prising that the Bundeswehr passes up for acceptance into service. Almost half this excellent opportunity for recruiting of the respondents had assumed that young personnel. they first had to complete voluntary military service and could only then With an eye to the motivation of mili- become temporary-career volunteers. tary service volunteers and the attrac- Similarly, the remarks in the petitions tiveness of this form of service, it is my from military service volunteers quite opinion that more flexible handling of often permit the conclusion that their the specifications of the Personnel expectations regarding a potential ca- Structure Model would be desirable at reer in the Bundeswehr are unrealistic. this point. A suitable military service These expectations are said to be trig- volunteer who has the necessary flexi- gered not only by the advice given be- bility and willingness to serve at home fore entering into service, but also, and and abroad, should not be rejected. above all, by advertising. Otherwise, it would be absolutely nec- essary, in the framework of counselling In this context, people mainly found it at the Careers Advice Centres, to pro- hard to understand the common prac- vide clearer information than in the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 39 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______past regarding the limited opportunities tion of up to 160 Euros per month in for military service volunteers to be recognition of this special commitment. kept on. The lack of prospects for lateral entry A lack of information – not only regard- for reserve officers was criticised in pe- ing development opportunities, but re- titions. Up to now, lateral entry as an garding the nature of service and its officer for specialist military assign- framework conditions in general – was ments was only possible if there was a a further point of criticism in petitions. vacant military post corresponding to It can be assumed that this is one of the the university education of the appli- reasons for the drop-out rate of roughly cant. As part of the amendment of the 30 percent, including roughly 5 percent Military Career Regulation, additional instigated by the Bundeswehr. In the options have now been created for en- aforementioned study, the Institute of try with a higher rank. Accordingly, Social Sciences quite rightly recom- provision is made for immediate ap- mends an intensive dialogue with the pointment as a lieutenant for assign- young people in order to gear their ex- ments in operational service that do not pectations of voluntary service more to necessitate a university education, if an the realities, and that greater considera- officer examination was successfully tion be given to their individual needs passed in addition to graduating from for personal development. This also university. This is likewise to be rated applies in connection with the place of positively. stationing. It appears doubtful, at the least, whether – as reported during a 9.1 Deficiencies in the personnel visit to the troops – it is absolutely nec- management of reservists essary to station a military service vol- unteer from Rostock at the other end of The commitment of active reservists the country, in Messstetten. Links to continues to be great. It is thus all the the home region should be preserved as more annoying when, in isolated in- far as possible in assignment planning. stances, avoidable mistakes in person- nel management occur time after time, resulting in release from reserve duty, 9 Reservists for example. If, for instance, a person's training record is not updated, resulting The new "Bundeswehr Reserve Con- in repeated exclusion from planning for cept" came into force with effect from 1 the ISAF mission, this is just as unac- February 2012. Among other things, it ceptable as if the necessary vetting pro- strengthens homeland defence by pro- cedure is initiated too late, this again viding additional, regional security and resulting in the petitioner not being support forces to be set up. According able to go on the mission. to the Act on the Legal Status of Reserv- ists in the Bundeswehr, which likewise Out of respect for reservists, it is also came newly into force, the heads of the necessary that the same importance be government district and government attached to their assessments as to region liaison groups bearing responsi- those of active soldiers. It is objection- bility in civilian-military cooperation, able if, as actually reported in one case, their deputies and the appointed senior assessments of this kind are not written officers of the Medical Service for civil- by the technically competent superior ian-military cooperation in the health and evaluation regulations are disre- sector, are appointed in a special form garded. of inactive duty. They are given a cer- tificate and swear an official oath. 9.2 Taxation of financial pay- There is also provision for compensa- ments to reservists

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 40 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

The planned taxation of payments to Apart from their disconcertion, affected reservists under military pay law, en- personnel also expressed a lack of un- visaged in the 2013 Annual Tax Act, derstanding for individual stationing led to strong criticism and numerous decisions, such as the relocation of the petitions. Right from the outset, I con- long-range surveillance units from sidered these plans in the draft of June Pfullendorf to Seedorf. They felt "left 2012 to be a wrong signal and a breach out" by their employer and complained of confidence vis-à-vis those affected, that they had not been given an under- making it very clear that these financial standable justification of the stationing losses bore no resemblance to apprecia- decision. tion and recognition of service in the armed forces. The law now adopted by It is in the interests of the employer to the German Bundestag in October com- listen to the aforementioned com- pletely exempted all remuneration paid plaints. It must, however, be borne in to reservists from taxation. This is a mind in this context that the desire of success for all concerned. personnel affected by a necessary trans- fer to at least be given a "close-to-home" assignment, is understandable and only 10 Personnel human. However, the personnel man- agers primarily have to give considera- In the year under review, the average tion to official interests when taking total force strength of the Bundeswehr concrete transfer decisions. At the same was 197,880. Compared to the previous time, they must take into account the year, this is a decline of 8,211 or 4 per- impact on soldiers who have greater cent. In addition to the reorientation of difficulty with a change of location ow- the Bundeswehr, this is attributable to ing to serious personal reasons or un- the suspension of compulsory military usual hardship. This is not easy in view service. The rank and file was affected of the extent of the structural changes to an above-average degree by this de- associated with the reorientation proc- cline in the total strength. ess. This makes it all the more neces- sary to make the measures to be taken 10.1 Acceptance of stationing deci- transparent and to inform the affected sions persons as soon and as comprehen- sively as possible. The Bundeswehr Stationing Concept, presented on 26 October 2011, caused 10.2 Deficiencies in the personnel widespread disconcertion in the year management of active soldiers under review. This particularly applied to military personnel whose locations Deficiencies in personnel management were to be closed. In many cases, the continue to be the subject of numerous personnel managers were unable to of- petitions. Complaints regarding the fer alternative posts soon after an- slow processing of applications are nouncement of the location closures. among the most common. The affected personnel were literally sitting on packed cases and did not If applications are not processed for know where they were going. This months on end, it is fallacious to be- anxiety was particularly understand- lieve that this impacts only the affected able in those cases where the decision soldier. The Bundeswehr harms itself to close locations or to dissolve units if, as a result of slackness and organisa- had already been announced, but it was tional deficits, it gives the impression still not clear what was to happen with that the personal affairs of its soldiers the affected personnel. are of secondary importance. It must repeatedly be emphasised in this con- text that, with its roughly 140,000 tem- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 41 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______porary-career soldiers and 55,000 ca- An interest in re-enlistment, particu- reer soldiers, the Bundeswehr is pre- larly in the rank and file, but also dominantly an army of people on lim- among non-commissioned officers, is ited-term contracts. Deficiencies in per- frequently expressed on visits to the sonnel management thus have a par- troops. The disappointment is great ticularly great impact on the willing- when a corresponding application is re- ness of specially qualified persons to jected, mostly having been made with consider acceptance into service as a the support of superiors, or even on career soldier, and also of people retir- their suggestion. The Bundeswehr ap- ing from service to report positively on parently finds it difficult to give inter- their experience with the Bundeswehr ested soldiers a clear picture of the as an employer in their new, civilian framework conditions under which de- environment. cisions on re-enlistment have to be taken and of the decisive reasons for For example, anyone who hears noth- the decision in a particular case. ing for six months about his application to switch to a career as sergeant, can In the year under review, too, highly hardly gain the impression that his em- qualified and extremely motivated ployer is particularly interested in him. temporary-career volunteers could not The soldier thereupon renounced this be re-enlisted, despite the fundamen- switch of career, although he was then tally open options for re-enlistment as a rated as suitable, meaning that both temporary-career volunteer for eight to sides were ultimately the losers. In fifteen years. The reason given for this view of this kind of behaviour, the af- was the need for an age-, experience- fected person is bound to get the im- and training-oriented personnel struc- pression that the employer is, in truth, ture. This is not a convincing argument. not at all interested in him continuing An appropriate personnel structure can his service, but is unwilling to say so most certainly also be achieved with openly and almost hopes that the sol- temporary-career volunteers who serve dier will lose his patience and give up. for a longer period.

In this context, it is not enough to al- The high level of fluctuation in the ways just put the blame on overtaxed troops leads to frustration among those individuals or regrettable organisa- who would like to see re-enlistment. In tional mishaps. If personnel matters are addition, the troops lose a variety of of special importance, particularly in skills that then have to be regained by an army undergoing permanent restruc- again investing large sums of money in turing, there must be more to it than training new personnel. merely emphasising priorities, but without providing the necessary re- The impression sometimes arises that sources. It appears urgently necessary the employer particularly refuses to make provision for better staffing of longer enlistment in cases where this personnel management agencies. If per- would establish an entitlement to voca- sonnel matters become just one of nu- tional advancement or a major expan- merous secondary tasks in the everyday sion of the entitlement. Current enlist- life of the troops, then personnel man- ment practice meets with understand- agement ultimately also becomes sec- able criticism among those affected and ondary. Soldiers deserve better than quite often results in bitterness on the that. The Bundeswehr cannot afford to part of the retiring soldiers. continue in this way. 10.4 Assignment planning follow- 10.3 Re-enlistment ing the conclusion of studies

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 42 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

A number of petitions related to the in- their studies. This should be an occa- formation given to studying officers by sion to critically examine the range of the Bundeswehr Personnel Office. The studies offered at the Bundeswehr uni- officers complained that, although they versities. were just a few months ahead of gradu- ating from university, the location and When officer training was put on an the assignment category to which they academic footing 40 years ago, the cen- were to be assigned had still not been tral political idea was to give future of- decided. ficers an academic educational horizon for their work in the armed forces. To- On this subject, the statements from the day, however, university studies Bundeswehr Personnel Office pointed should be geared more to the actual re- out that the students were generally quirements of modern armed forces and given preliminary information regard- enable officers to receive education and ing their future assignment six months training that will allow them to make a before completing their studies. The af- successful start into civilian working fected persons thus had sufficient time life after retiring from the Bundeswehr. to adjust to the new duty location. There are positive approaches at the This is not a convincing argument. The Bundeswehr University in Hamburg. information given is only preliminary Sixteen students recently started the and not binding. If the soldier wants to new course in Psychology there, and avoid the financial disadvantages of their number is soon to increase to 30. having to re-plan, then legally binding It would also make sense to set up a acts, such as renting accommodation, post-graduate medical study course in signing a removal contract, giving of Psychotherapy. The expertise of the notice on the spouse's employment Bundeswehr hospitals could be utilised contract or signing up for a kindergar- in this context – Hamburg, in particu- ten place, cannot be undertaken until lar, would be a good location because after receipt of the assignment order. of the vicinity of the Bundeswehr Hos- pital to the Bundeswehr University. It Furthermore to be criticised is that the should also be examined whether the binding assignment notification is oc- Bundeswehr hospitals can be devel- casionally not sent out as long as the oped into Bundeswehr University Hos- Bundeswehr university has not submit- pitals for post-graduate medical study ted formal and definitive notification courses. regarding successful completion of the course to the Bundeswehr Personnel 10.6 Promotion situation Office. Deficiencies in the procedures of the Bundeswehr universities are re- As had already been the case in previ- peatedly found, but must not be al- ous years, there was again dissatisfac- lowed to be to the detriment of the sol- tion with the promotion situation in the diers. It must be possible to react to year under review. The existing estab- deficits in the employer's sphere of re- lished posts continue to be insufficient sponsibility in such a way that the sol- to promote all soldiers who have dier does not have to bear the conse- achieved the personal prerequisites for quences. promotion.

10.5 Range of fields of study at There was a particularly serious short- Bundeswehr universities age of established posts in Pay Grade A 12. The affected soldiers have often al- Young officers frequently complain that ready been assigned to a post classed in they find it hard to understand their Pay Grade A 12 for more than two follow-on assignments after completing years. However, since the number of German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 43 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______available established posts is regularly Promotion to warrant officer Class 2 insufficient to be able to assign all offi- presupposes at least 16 years of service cers meeting the prerequisites and open since appointment as sergeant, includ- to consideration at an assignment date, ing at least three years since appoint- orders of promotion are created. The ment as sergeant major. However, ac- latest, regular assessment takes priority cording to the amendment of the Mili- in this respect. Also taken into account tary Career Regulation applicable since as additional performance criteria are 2 July 2011, appointment in the rank of the assessments of eligibility for promo- warrant officer Class 2 is also possible tion or the development forecasts of if a full-time occupational activity prior past regular assessments since achiev- to entering service was practised for at ing eligibility for promotion, as well as least nine years after acquiring the nec- participation in special foreign assign- essary educational prerequisites. ments and comparable deployments since 1 April 2008. The duration of as- This new regulation is based on the in- signment to a corresponding post, i.e. tention of significantly improving the the time already spent performing the lateral entry options for the careers of higher-rated activity, does not consti- officer and senior NCO on the basis of tute a performance criterion in this con- civilian experience. This is certainly text and is not taken into account when understandable for improving recruit- establishing the assignment sequences. ment, especially for understaffed as- signments. However, it is equally un- Equally unsatisfactory is the situation derstandable that, in individual in- of staff sergeants waiting for promotion stances, the new regulations mentioned to sergeant major. Again, the number of are felt to be unfair by the temporary- established posts is insufficient, mean- career volunteers and career soldiers ing that long waiting periods can arise disadvantaged by them. Even if im- before promotion to sergeant major. proved lateral entry options for appli- cants with professional experience It is understandable that long waiting were politically intended, it is now periods lead to annoyance and are det- time to create corresponding promotion rimental to motivation. This applies not opportunities for long-serving soldiers only to the persons directly affected. as well, in order to eliminate this dis- Promotion backlogs impair the attrac- crimination. tiveness of service in the armed forces in general. 10.7 Assessment system

Petitions relating to the promotion Previous Annual Reports already de- situation also addressed the problem of scribed the massive criticism of the "preferential treatment of lateral en- current assessment system. The criti- trants". For instance, a long-serving ser- cism persisted in the year under re- geant major complained about being view, and I can only subscribe to it. disadvantaged in relation to a lateral entrant, who had trained as a master On the one hand, it is only human and craftsman during his civilian working understandable that not everyone as- life and was thus recruited into the sessed is happy with their assessment Bundeswehr with the rank of warrant and sees their aptitude, ability and pro- officer Class 2. He himself had compa- fessional performance as being appro- rable training and many years of mili- priately acknowledged. On the other tary experience. He nevertheless lost hand, no assessment system can avoid out to the lateral entrant when it came this, no matter how differentiated it to promotion to warrant officer Class 2. may be. However, it is also not the job This description is accurate. of an assessment system to reflect the self-assessment of the persons assessed, German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 44 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______but to provide a basis for efficient per- sonnel development. Against this If a further career in the Bundeswehr backdrop, it remains incomprehensible no longer appears possible, it is under- that assessments still include elements standable that the affected persons try of personnel tactics, the result being to find an occupational alternative. In that aptitude and ability profiles and this process, it is not always the case development forecasts are drawn up that the time of the soldier's envisaged that serve less the aim of placing the retirement from service and the oppor- best and more the optimisation of indi- tunity to take up a new occupational vidual career prospects. activity or university studies coincide.

Being intentionally subjective estimates If the application for premature retire- by the assessor, assessments can only ment from service is rejected in such a be judicially reviewed within very nar- case, it is understandable that the ap- row limits. This applies to the appellate plicant is disappointed. Nevertheless, it instances and the administrative courts, must be pointed out that, according to as well as to the Parliamentary Com- invariable and established case law, the missioner for the Armed Forces. Not decision on an application for curtail- even he, with his yardstick of "violation ment of the period of service is authori- of basic rights" or "infringement of the tatively governed by the interest of the principles of internal leadership", can Bundeswehr in a curtailment of this replace the freedom of assessment of kind. After all, by assigning the soldier the superiors. This makes it all the to a post, the Bundeswehr has incorpo- more important for the employer itself rated her or him in a long-term person- to ensure that superiors do not feel nel concept, usually already planned forced to give personnel tactics priority the successor and has no possibility for over truthful assessments. providing a replacement at short notice in the event of premature retirement. Since the current assessment system fails to do this, it needs to be changed. A distinction must be made between At this point, I would like to repeat my the aforementioned constellations and advice that the award of assessment cases where soldiers wish to opt out of grades for the currently practised activ- their contracts due to fundamental dis- ity should be more clearly separated satisfaction with their personal situa- from the career-determining promotion tion and/or a lack of career prospects. prospects. For example, this means young officers who fail to find the expected military 10.8 Applications for curtailment training during their studies or cannot of the period of service see secure career prospects against the backdrop of the reorientation of the The rejection of applications for cur- armed forces. However, it also includes tailment of the period of service was senior NCOs, who are transferred from the subject of numerous petitions in the post to post and sent from training year under review. course to training course with no visi- ble assignment prospects. There is no Applications for curtailment of the pe- small number of people who consider riod of service are regularly triggered by the idea of retiring from service prema- the wish to turn to new career pros- turely for the above reasons. pects, be it with an employer in the private sector or in the civil service. Both situations involve personnel who The desire to leave the Bundeswehr were selected as qualified applicants prematurely is often preceded by rejec- and entered into service in the armed tion of an application for acceptance as forces with great expectations and mo- a career soldier. tivation. If they retire, the Bundeswehr German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 45 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______loses some of the junior leaders it se- able impact at the moment, restrictions lected and trained itself. It would make must nevertheless be expected later on sense to ask these people why they during the period of service. All this want to retire from service prematurely must already be considered when de- and to try to retain them. However, this ciding on acceptance or rejection, also does not appear to be the rule. in the interests of the applicants them- selves. 10.9 Rejection of applicants for health reasons 10.10 Assignment despite restricted medical fitness In the year under review, several peti- tioners complained about the rejection It was reported in numerous petitions of their applications for health reasons. that, although the fitness of the appli- Among other things, the grounds for re- cant had been established at the medi- jection included an excessively high cal examination in a Recruiting Centre, Body Mass Index, allergies, poor eye- the unit physician found health restric- sight and insufficient ability to cope tions that cast doubt on this fitness af- with physical or mental stress. ter the applicant entered into service with the troops. As a rule, the rejected applicants said they subjectively felt no impairment. This happened to one applicant, who This may well be the case, but it is not passed the pre-induction examination a sufficient argument. with a medical fitness category of T2 during his aptitude test in November It must first of all be noted that the 2011 and was assigned for duty in the physical demands on military person- Bundeswehr. However, after entering nel are greater than in most other occu- into service at the beginning of January pations. An applicant must be able to 2012, the petitioner was discharged guarantee that she or he is physically again after three days, because the den- capable of coping with these require- tal examination on recruitment re- ments. vealed an assignment restriction owing to dysgnathia. If health impairments exist, it must be examined whether they have an impact A dental examination is regularly only on the performance and fitness of the carried out when an applicant enters applicant. If this is the case, it may be into service, since no provision is made possible to issue an exemption. How- for this examination at the Recruiting ever, this presupposes that the possibil- Centres. Following his petition, the pe- ity can be ruled out of the health im- titioner was reinstated at the beginning pairment posing a threat to the indi- of April 2012 on the basis of an exemp- vidual in question or to third parties on tion granted by a military physician. duty. This is frequently overlooked by applicants, but also not always ade- In this instance, and indeed in general, quately explained to the affected indi- it would have been desirable for the vidual. dental status already to have been clari- fied during the aptitude test at the Re- In the opinion of the Bundeswehr, cruiting Centre. This does not involve there is no room for exceptions if the any major additional effort. The possi- Bundeswehr can cover its requirements bility of a medical exemption should be elsewhere with applicants whose reviewed as soon as possible, at the lat- health is not impaired. There can be no est when entering into service with the objection to this. After all, it must be troops. The delay in the start of the borne in mind that, while some health military career and the substantial out- impairments have little or no notice- lay on both sides could have been German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 46 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______avoided for both the petitioner and the tencies, the decision regarding medical employer in this way. fitness is deferred until the time of the assignment decision. A timely and In another case, an applicant turned to comprehensive medical examination, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the geared to the envisaged or merely re- Armed Forces because, following his quested assignment, would be neces- recruitment at the beginning of January sary to avoid occurrences of this kind. 2012, he had been discharged from the However, there is currently no struc- Bundeswehr after three days owing to tural provision for this. The results of an elevated Body Mass Index of more an examination of this kind would than 30 and the resultant capacity limi- make further assignment planning more tations. At the time of his aptitude test reliable. This would benefit both the in April 2011, the applicant had still career and life planning of the affected had a – borderline – Body Mass Index persons, and also the employer's as- of 27. Having gained eight kilograms in signment planning with regard to the weight by the time of entering into ser- future staffing of posts. vice, he was no longer found to be fit. No incorrect behaviour of Bundeswehr 10.11 Testimonials agencies could be identified in this in- stance. Nevertheless, in cases of this According to the statutory provisions in kind, the borderline nature of the Body the Act on the Legal Status of Soldiers Mass Index determined, and the associ- and the pertinent Joint Service Regula- ated risk for the applicant in the event tion, military personnel receive a testi- of putting on further weight, should be monial after retiring from service. pointed out more emphatically than Timely issue of the testimonial is in- apparently happened in this case. dispensable for the job application phase, and thus for reintegration of A number of petitions related to ques- these persons in civilian working life. tions of medical fitness for specific The certificate has to be issued by the posts and/or university studies. disciplinary superior. The task of en- suring this cannot be delegated to the In one case, the Bundeswehr Personnel soldier herself or himself. Office planned for a female naval offi- cer cadet to study nautics. She had pre- The Service Regulation includes guide- viously undergone several medical ex- lines and processing notes regarding aminations and been found to be fit for the minimum content and structure of shipboard duty. An examination for the testimonial, as well as proposed "fitness for deck service" was not per- formulations and examples. Despite formed, although it was necessary for these notes and aids, soldiers com- studying. When she wanted to start her plained that their testimonials did not studies after three years in the troops even comply with the minimum formal and was examined once again, the re- requirements. Moreover, despite send- sponsible doctor told her that she was ing repeated written enquiries to their not fit to study nautics owing to her former units, petitioners occasionally poor eyesight. In the case described had to wait months for their testimoni- here, it would have been no problem at als. That is not acceptable. all to perform the examination for "fit- ness for deck service" at the time of re- Owing to the enormous importance of cruitment, or the time of assignment the testimonial for the affected persons, planning at the latest. and the potential negative impact in a job application procedure, it is essen- The impression can currently not be tial that timely issue of testimonials be avoided that, as a result of an exces- ensured. In the context of processing sively narrow interpretation of compe- petitions, one command informed me German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 47 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______that issue of the testimonial was to be Forces pays special attention to their included in the checklist of the soldiers situation. to be discharged. As expressly welcome as this may be, the question remains as No particular problems arose regarding to why consistent use of this simple or- the integration of these soldiers. It was, ganisational option was not also made however, reported that ethnic German in other areas and before. immigrants are increasingly isolating themselves somewhat from their other The cases coming to my notice in the comrades. The superiors are thus called year under review show that quite a upon to bring the different groups few superiors consider errors and in- closer together. There were hardly any adequacies in the issue of a testimonial observations of religion-based tensions. to be a "side issue". Corresponding breaches of duty do not always result in Particularly on its missions abroad, the an appropriately emphatic response. Bundeswehr has for some time been For example, if a superior was repeat- making use of the special abilities of edly requested in writing to issue the personnel with an immigrant back- testimonial in vain, his failure cannot ground, such as language skills or in- be dismissed as a regrettable clerical er- tercultural competencies. However, it is ror. In view of the existential impor- also necessary for the employer to make tance of the testimonial for the profes- an effort to contribute to the integration sional future of a retiring soldier, a of these soldiers and, if possible, to stronger disciplinary reaction would be meet any special needs that may exist. indicated in such cases. This is already being done to the great- est possible extent as regards catering. 10.12 Trainee positions The soldiers are also given the oppor- tunity to comply with the prescribed Fundamentally, the efforts must be ac- rites and prayer times. The spiritual knowledged to get some trainee sol- needs of non-Christian faiths are like- diers into what are known as trainee wise to be catered to more extensively positions, so that the post can be re- in future, as indicated in the "Chaplain filled in a manner covered by the Service" section. The Federal Ministry budget for the duration of their train- of Defence acknowledges the relevance ing. Up to now, however, only an insuf- of the subject and, in the year under re- ficient number of trainee positions has view, also signed the "Charter of Diver- been created. This is particularly true sity", initiated by business enterprises as regards special assignments. For in- and under the patronage of the Federal stance, there is fundamentally no pro- Chancellor. It is intended to promote vision for deputisation for materiel the acknowledgement, appreciation management senior NCOs. This is un- and inclusion of diversity and to con- fortunate in two respects. First, much tribute to also utilising this diversity for of the work remains undone. Second, the respective organisation. urgent work has to be taken on by com- rades who are assigned to other jobs In 2011, soldiers with an immigrant and thus exposed to a double burden. background founded the "Deutscher This is neither sensible nor justifiable. Soldat e.V." society at the Bundeswehr University in Hamburg, with the aim of 10.13 Military personnel with an stimulating successful integration in immigrant background the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr should continue to emphatically em- As in the rest of society, a noteworthy brace this subject and see the recruit- proportion of military personnel have ment of soldiers with an immigrant an immigrant background. The Parlia- background as an opportunity for a mentary Commissioner for the Armed German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 48 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______more broadly-based Bundeswehr that conscientious objectors during the also reflects society. same period, including 26 during their university studies.

11 Medical Service Compared to the target of Personnel Structure Model 185, there is currently 11.1 Impact of the reorganisation of still a shortage of 500 Medical Service the Bundeswehr on the Medi- officers. In particular, there continues cal Service to be a significant lack of doctors. The situation is especially critical in the After introduction of the new structure clinical field, mainly as regards sur- (Personnel Structure Model 185), the geons and psychiatrists, where the Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service will shortfall is as much as 25 percent. in future only comprise roughly 19,200 However, the extent of the personnel soldiers, compared to the current shortage differs at the individual 24,700. This corresponds to a cutback Bundeswehr hospitals. Roughly one- of slightly more than one-fifth of the to- fifth of the posts for unit physicians are tal size. At roughly 2,700, the number still vacant. of civilian employees will be about ten percent below the previous level. Esti- A significant number of these vacancies mates that reorientation will make the is attributable to absence for training- Medical Service more effective and ef- and family-related reasons. To permit ficient must be questioned. According temporary filling of these vacancies, the to an in-house deficit analysis, the number of trainee positions to which Medical Service will, despite the reduc- post holders can be assigned during tion in the total force strength, be short their training or family-related absence, of roughly 1,000 jobs to be able to pro- was increased by 400. This makes it vide the necessary task- and mission- possible to temporarily compensate for oriented medical care for the armed vacancies, but it does not eliminate the forces in the new structure. The figure existing personnel deficit. will, in fact, probably be even higher. As a result of dissolution of the selec- The particular challenge in connection tion and induction offices, a decision with introduction of the new personnel has to be taken regarding the further as- structure of the Medical Service lies in signment of just under 200 recruiting the internal reorganisation of the body organisation physicians. A major pro- of personnel and the associated redis- portion of them is to be employed in tribution of tasks. A slight increase in the sphere of the recruiting organisa- the number of Medical Service officers tion, particularly in the new Careers and a significant rise in the number of Centres. It would also be conceivable to Medical Service NCOs are offset by re- assign them to the Medical Service, e.g. ductions in the number of medical ser- as unit physicians. However, since re- geants and massive cutbacks in the cruiting organisation physicians gener- rank and file. ally have no experience in curative medicine, and often also no specialist 11.1.1 Personnel situation regarding medical training, they would have to be Medical Service officers offered the necessary basic and con- tinuation training before being assigned In total, the number of Medical Service to the Medical Service. officers, i.e. all Bundeswehr doctors, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists, A contribution to compensating for was increased to 2,800 in the year un- personnel bottlenecks and vacancies in der review. However, 56 Medical Ser- connection with Medical Service offi- vice officers applied for recognition as cers was to be made by the streamlining German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 49 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______of the leadership structure in the Joint tiveness of the Medical Service. As al- Medical Service, along with the clear ready mentioned in a different context, orientation of the new structures to a first step in this direction can be re- tasks requiring a licence to practise. It ported from Hamburg, where 30 places is questionable whether this measure for students of Psychology are being will suffice to significantly reduce ex- created at Helmut Schmidt University, isting deficits. The decisive factor for as suggested in the last Annual Report. regeneration of the body of medical In view of the demand for therapists, it personnel will be the attractiveness of would make sense to also offer a post- the future Medical Service. graduate study course in Psychotherapy in collaboration with the Bundeswehr Pleasingly, the number of applicants for hospital. a career as Medical Service officer rose by a good 20 percent in the year under The fact is to be welcomed that, as I review. The Federal Ministry of De- have been demanding for some time, fence realistically attributes this in- the promotion of Medical Service offi- crease to the doubling of the number of cers will, according to the new concept school-leavers in some Federal Länder, on support groups, in future no longer among other factors. be imperatively dependent on a staff assignment. Many of those affected Regardless of this increase, numerous consider this innovation to be a real active Medical Service officers reported improvement. during visits to the troops that they did not plan to re-enlist owing to the unat- Finally, the attractiveness of the career tractiveness of service. Statements of of a Medical Service officer is also de- this kind match the persistently low termined by the pay. number of applicants for acceptance as career Medical Service officers. In view It was already pointed out on several of this trend, it is regrettable that the at- occasions in previous years that the in- tractiveness programme for Medical centive pay for Medical Service officers Service officers has still not been com- working in the field of intensive-care pletely implemented, although it was and emergency medicine, introduced in already planned in 2009. For instance, 2009, does not appear suitable for per- only from the end of the year was a manently increasing the attractiveness start made on creating new posts for of service for Medical Service officers. Medical Service officers as the basis for To this day, the incentive pay is con- the justified adjustment of the annual sidered to be unfair, owing to its one- working time of Medical Service offi- sided orientation, and leads to dissatis- cers to that of line officers. The same faction among those who feel they have applies to the inclusion of mission unjustifiably been ignored. times in the life working time. In these important respects, the attractiveness A positive development to be reported programme is not yet capable of devel- is that attractiveness-inhibiting factors oping the anticipated positive effects have been eliminated by the overdue on recruitment. harmonisation with valid EU law, in that medical stand-by duty and time on Another attractive feature is the basic call in the Bundeswehr hospitals are and advanced training offered. The now at last recognised as working time creation of medical courses at the and also paid for accordingly. Bundeswehr universities, and also the expansion of the basic and advanced 11.1.2 Personnel situation of NCOs training offers for specialist officers and and non-rated personnel in the sergeants at the Bundeswehr Medical Medical Service Academy, could increase the attrac- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 50 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

The personnel situation as regards ser- by more frequent duty of the available geants in the Medical Service eased fur- mates and rank and file. This imposes ther in the year under review. In this an enormous strain on those affected. sector, the Medical Service is now benefiting from the graduates from the 11.1.3 Medical Service and specifi- corresponding civilian basic and ad- cally female interests vanced vocational training. However, a solution has still not be found to the The Medical Service has a positive im- problem, already addressed in previous age among young women. The provi- Annual Reports, of filling key posts, sion of medical care would be in jeop- especially for qualified specialist ardy without the female Medical Ser- nurses. There is also a shortage of spe- vice officers, whose percentage in rela- cialist nurses in civilian hospitals. The tion to male Medical Service officers is Bundeswehr can only hold its own in continuing to rise. It is pleasing to note the competition for qualified profes- the response to my demand to address sionals if service is made more attrac- specific women's topics, including the tive. Against this backdrop, it is impos- subject of "pregnancy". Having already sible to understand that the nursing been called for in the 2011 Annual Re- sector still makes no provision for ap- port, in-house specialist gynaecological propriate compensation for extra work competence of the Medical Service at and financial compensation for special the Bundeswehr Hospital in West- duties, as is in the meantime the case erstede is in the meantime also being for Medical Service officers. developed in cooperation with the Ammerland Clinic. Competence of this The careers of non-commissioned offi- kind is necessary in order to be able to cers in the Medical Service were up- judge gynaecological matters, espe- graded in the year under review by a cially in the Navy and on missions. marked increase in the number of posts, as well as an improved offer of The Bundeswehr has no plans to create basic and continuation training. How- its own examination and treatment ca- ever, the work-related stress of many pacities in the field of gynaecology. It NCOs will increase substantially as a would be uneconomical anyway to es- result of the assumption of additional tablish ubiquitous capacities of this tasks that were previously handled by kind. Therefore, treatment is to con- non-rated personnel. The cause of this tinue to be provided by civilian gynae- is the reduction of the number of rank- cologists. This is also what the majority and-file posts in the Medical Service by of servicewomen would like. almost two-thirds in the framework of the reform. It is hard to understand that the "unit physician principle" is being adhered Recruitment problems are emerging as to, alongside treatment by a civilian a result of competition with the civilian doctor. This means that servicewomen health sector, which is affected in the can still only be referred to a civilian same way as the Bundeswehr by the gynaecologist by their unit physician. shortage of professionals, particularly This time-consuming detour via the rescue personnel and nursing staff. The unit physician should be avoided and initial effects of this shortage of profes- the women instead be given the oppor- sionals are clearly being felt by the tunity to directly consult a gynaecolo- Navy Medical Service. There is already gist of their choice. a dramatic shortage of 40 percent in the rank of mate, and of 30 percent in the Reference has already been made to the rank and file. Against the backdrop of problem of the need to compensate for this personnel deficit, operational family-related vacancies. The large readiness can currently only be ensured proportion of women in the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 51 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Bundeswehr Medical Service makes the medicine, traumatological or internal- problem particularly acute in this sec- medicine head and psychotrauma cen- tor. The personnel management meas- tres with different focuses. The creation ures envisaged to solve the problem, of these different key fields is no longer such as more flexible options for part- geared solely to the curative care of time work according to the Specialist military personnel, but primarily to the Personnel Recruitment Act, possibili- positioning of the hospitals on the mar- ties for sharing established posts and ket. the use of vacant posts as teaching posts, are not new. They are also far This increases the competence of the from sufficient for satisfactorily solving hospitals in the respective specialist the fundamental problem of family- field. At the same time, however, it also related absence in the interests of the entails abandonment of the previously affected soldiers, be they female or targeted goal of "maximum care", i.e. male. Without additional personnel, it all-round care of patients in every sin- will hardly be possible to cope with gle Bundeswehr hospital. Depending this problem, given the anticipated fur- on the medical case, military personnel ther increase in family-related vacan- will in future only be able to receive cies. care in the Bundeswehr hospitals hav- ing the respective specialist compe- 11.1.4 Reform of the Bundeswehr tence. This may be hundreds of kilome- hospitals tres from the duty location or home of the patient. In such cases, accommoda- The five hospitals currently operated in tion must be provided for relatives, so Hamburg, Berlin, Koblenz, Ulm and that they can visit these patients. This Westerstede will also be retained in the is currently only possible to a very lim- new structure of the Bundeswehr ited extent. Medical Service. However, their struc- ture and organisation will undergo sub- In view of the greater concentration on stantial changes. In this context, the fo- centres of competence, there will be an cus will be on even greater integration increasing number of cases where mili- into civilian standard medical care. tary personnel have to be treated in ci- vilian hospitals. Even now, the Integration of the Bundeswehr hospi- Bundeswehr has only limited treatment tals into civilian standard care is im- capacities for certain injuries. Burns are portant, because this is the only way one example. More than half of all sol- that Bundeswehr doctors and nurses diers suffering from burns are already can acquire the necessary, broad-based treated in civilian hospitals. Since clinical experience. At the same time, it 2009, the Bundeswehr has had no ca- must be remembered that the manage- pacities of its own at all for the long- ment and organisation of the term treatment of persons with very se- Bundeswehr hospitals must primarily vere burns. Patients of this kind have to be geared not to economic efficiency, be treated in civilian hospitals. Corre- but to ensuring medical care for mili- sponding cooperation agreements have tary personnel. It is doubtful whether to be concluded to this end. It is obvi- this will continue to be guaranteed. ous that this system will in future make it more difficult to provide medical Against the backdrop of the intended, care and support for military patients. even greater integration into civilian standard care, the Bundeswehr hospi- As a result of the increasing referral of tals are required, in cooperation with military patients to civilian doctors, the civilian hospitals, to develop interdis- question of assumption of the treatment ciplinary and interdepartmental centres costs by the employer has become a of competence, such as emergency- problem for some affected persons. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 52 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Disputes arose in cases where the em- worked management has no decision- ployer refused to bear the costs owing making power as regards civilian nurs- to mistakes in the doctor's bill or ing staff and facilities management. charges for medical treatment methods This makes the network in itself ques- that are not recognised. In the cases tionable. In addition to which, hospital coming to the knowledge of the Parlia- executives report that they would pre- mentary Commissioner for the Armed fer to see administration left in the Forces, most of the disputes could only hands of the individual hospitals them- be settled by way of individual deci- selves. sions on the basis of a petition. Regard- less of this, the employer is still called Cutbacks on civilian personnel were upon to create reliable principles re- repeatedly criticised in the last Annual garding the issue of assumption of costs Reports, and have still not be compen- for civilian medical services, to apply sated for by medical orderlies, as origi- them consistently, and to inform and nally planned. Consequently, large advise soldiers about the prerequisites numbers of jobs for nursing staff are va- for, and the scope of, the assumption of cant. External personnel on temporary costs. hire is sometimes called upon to close this gap. In addition to which, the age The Bundeswehr Central Hospital in structure of the available nursing staff Koblenz had to admit patients with leads to a higher rate of lost working multi-resistant germs at short notice time. In view of this situation, it must and accommodate and treat them in be ensured that the standard of nursing isolation owing to the potential threat services continues to be guaranteed in to other patients. It was found in this both qualitative and quantitative terms. context that the Bundeswehr hospitals are inadequately equipped to deal with A satisfactory solution has still not such situations. It fortunately proved been found regarding the IT equipment possible to prevent transmission of of the Bundeswehr hospitals necessary these germs. The doctors and nursing for billing hospital services for civilian staff succeeded in doing so by demon- patients and for medical documenta- strating a real talent for improvisation tion. Interim solutions are currently be- and great commitment. To deal with fu- ing tested that are intended to replace ture cases, infrastructural changes must the unsatisfactory "isolated solutions" be made at the Bundeswehr hospitals and contribute to simplifying and stan- for treating patients of this kind, since a dardising hospital processes. However, similar situation can crop up again at the question arises as to why it has so any time. According to in-house esti- far not been possible to find a uniform, mates, neither the scope, nor the stan- user-friendly solution, despite the dard of the facilities available for this availability of hospital information sys- purpose is sufficient. tems on the market.

As part of the organisational unification 11.1.5 Reorientation of unit medical of the five Bundeswehr hospitals, a sys- care tem network was set up at the level of the Headquarters of the Bundeswehr The situation regarding basic unit Medical Service. This system network medical care in Germany continues to combines hospital management in the be tense. In the framework of reorienta- areas of Management, Purchasing and tion, the number of regional medical Certification. In contrast, hospital ad- facilities will be almost halved, from ministration is not part of the network. 216 to 126. The Federal Ministry of De- It remains in the sphere of responsibil- fence expects this concentration of out- ity of the Defence Administration at the patient unit medical care in major Bundeswehr Service Centres. The net- medical clinics with additional staff, German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 53 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______and smaller medical clinics subordi- eas. Consequently, in order to fulfil nated to them, to provide adequate pa- their mandate to provide medical care, tient care at the locations selected in the Medical Service and the civilian accordance with the requirements of health system must have an interest in the troops and as a function of the ex- organising patient-oriented, outpatient isting infrastructure. Given the reduc- medical care by way of cooperation. tion in the number of medical facilities Reservists today working as doctors and the continuing shortage of unit could contribute to closing this gap in physicians, it seems doubtful whether healthcare provision. this will work. In addition to the restructuring of the In addition to this, the distances to be network of health service support insti- travelled to the major medical clinics tutions, the insufficient number of unit and smaller medical clinics are longer. physicians also continues to be a major Soldiers who report sick are therefore problem. It has so far not been possible under way for longer and thus absent to compensate for the losses of Medical from their posts for longer. That is not Service officers in 2008 and 2009, an improvement. which particularly affected posts as unit physician. Beyond this, topping up As a result of concentration on major the pool for the Mobile Emergency medical clinics and smaller medical Physician Teams, the shortening of unit clinics, numerous smaller locations end physician assignments, and the grow- up with no medical facility, and the ing number of vacancies resulting from distances to the remaining facilities are the increase in parental leave and part- significantly greater. This ultimately time work, have had a negative impact means that the departure from provi- on the presence of unit physicians, sion of all-round medical care for the meaning that a minimum rate at which troops by the Central Medical Service, personnel turn up for duty of 75 per- and the abandonment of "on-the-spot" cent can only be secured by extensive medical care at smaller locations, has utilisation of SHI-accredited physicians been completed. The resultant longer (roughly one-fifth of the rate at which journeys must not be to the detriment personnel turn up for duty), the use of of the soldiers. Travel to and from the reserve-duty Medical Service officers medical facilities must be organised by and the delegation of former recruiting the troops. Appropriate vehicles must organisation physicians. The system be on hand for this purpose. Travelling has reached its limits in this respect, expenses incurred may not be imposed too. According to internal estimates by on the military patients. the Medical Service, some 300 addi- tional posts and the corresponding per- The reform of the "unit physician prin- sonnel would be needed in order to be ciple", proposed in the last Annual Re- able to compensate for the aforemen- port, would help to avoid long journeys tioned vacancies resulting from train- and absence from work. Regardless of ing- and family-related absences in the location, a unit physician should be Medical Service through a standby per- able to treat every soldier and issue all sonnel pool. The creation of a standby necessary certificates, such as sick personnel pool of this kind would, notes, etc. however, greatly increase the attrac- tiveness of the Medical Service and Emergency medical care at locations thus contribute to making it easier to where the Medical Service is no longer recruit new members. present must in future be provided by the civilian health system, although ci- vilian healthcare, too, is suffering from a shortage of doctors in many rural ar- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 54 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

11.1.6 Short supply of the the mission, without this pre-existing Bundeswehr with blood condition being identified. preparations The Bundeswehr must respond to these The 2011 Annual Report already criti- results by expanding the measures cised the fact that the Bundeswehr did taken to date. One important approach not have its own supplies of blood is improved prevention of mental ill- preparations on missions. Such sup- nesses. In particular, there is an urgent plies are still not guaranteed to this need to improve early detection by day. The process for establishing a pro- means of diagnostic screening proce- duction method for cryopreserved dures, so as to also reduce the risk of platelet concentrates and its statutory traumatisation on missions. Beyond approval in Germany is still in pro- this, mission participants, commanders gress, meaning that the Bundeswehr in and unit physicians with no corre- Afghanistan continues to be reliant on sponding training could be offered in- the support of the Dutch armed forces, struction regarding the identification who can supply corresponding blood and treatment of mental illnesses and preparations. how to deal with affected personnel. Finally, the thoughts relating to addi- 11.2 Traumatisation on operations tion of a psychotherapeutic component to the training at the Bundeswehr uni- 11.2.1 Increase in the number of ill- versities in the framework of the new nesses courses in Psychology should be put into practice without delay. As was to be expected, the problem of mission-related mental illnesses be- 11.2.2 Avoidance of mental stress came worse still in the year under re- view. The number of treated cases of The employer has recognised the im- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) portance of preventive measures for rose from 922 in 2011 to 1,143 in 2012, avoiding mental stress and summarised including 194 new cases. Moreover, the action to be taken in a new there was an increase in the number of "Framework Concept for Maintaining cases requiring multiple therapy of suf- and Improving the Mental Health of ferers. Chronic traumatic illnesses were Servicemen and Women". This is to be also on the rise. welcomed. Among other things, the in- dividual measures include screening at Developments in the field of PTSD are defined times with the aim of detecting illustrated by the study on undetected and avoiding mental illnesses at an cases conducted by Dresden University early stage. Based on the current Per- of Technology on behalf of the Federal sonnel Structure Model, however, the Ministry of Defence. According to the personnel needed for this is not yet results, participation in a mission in- available. creases the risk of developing PTSD by a factor of four. In addition, the authors Above and beyond this, the establish- of the study assume that one case in ment of an "incident file" is intended to two goes undetected and thus also un- contribute to better provability of par- treated. All in all, the study arrives at ticularly stressful incidents on mis- the conclusion that one mission par- sions. However, it must also be ensured ticipant in four suffers from psycho- that all the data gathered on a mission logical disorders up to the point of are promptly included in the medical PTSD, where more than half of the records of the soldiers at their home lo- traumatised soldiers present symptoms cations. Only then is a comprehensive of a psychological disorder even before medical assessment possible.

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 55 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

According to initial findings, the train- tem of preventive support and welfare ing course concept, described in the assistance for retired deployment re- 2011 Annual Report, for sport therapy turnees and their families. This would with a psychological element for per- not be an act of generosity, but an ex- sonnel injured on operations at the pression of the welfare and care to Bundeswehr Sports School in Waren- which the employer is committed any- dorf, as part of rehabilitation, is also a way in accordance with Section 31 of successful offering for restoring the the Soldiers' Act. constitution of traumatised mission participants. The reaction of course 11.2.3 Involvement of relatives in participants to date has been positive. I treatment was able to convince myself of the suc- cess of the training course concept in Experience shows that traumatic stress person on the occasion of my visit to disorders affect not only the mission the Sports School in Warendorf in Oc- participants themselves, but also their tober 2012. However, this training offer social environment. The illness of the must not only be retained, but also ex- soldier also subjects family members panded. It should also be extended to and relatives to stress. However, since cover the relatives of soldiers and the the family and social environment can surviving dependants of the fallen, make as essential contribution to the since they, too, have a statutorily guar- recovery of traumatised patients, there anteed entitlement to welfare and care. is a need to involve the corresponding Integration of the training course con- circle of persons in welfare and support cept in the new mental health frame- measures. This is the case in the pilot work concept makes sense. Also worth project "Counselling in Centres of Ex- considering is the suggestion by the pertise of the Bundeswehr". This in- Commander of the Sports School and volvement has proven successful and the Head of the Bundeswehr Institute of should be maintained. Sports Medicine that mission- traumatised soldiers and persons with The "Centres of Expertise" are intended disabilities should be given an oppor- to ensure comprehensive counselling tunity for sport promotion, all the way and support of traumatised patients, as to preparation for, and participation in, well as general measures for mental the Paralympics. stabilisation, and to serve as a central meeting place for the affected persons. Still unsolved is the problem of help The permanent offering of support for former mission participants whose measures of this kind would be a clear illness only becomes apparent after indication that the employer faces up to their retirement from service. Owing to its responsibility towards the affected their illness, quite a few of them are no soldiers and their relatives. Assump- longer in a position to recognise their tion of the costs for participants in the situation or seek help themselves, in pilot phase, who are not entitled to free addition to which they get into finan- medical care, was settled by a budget cial straits. To be able to help them, note. The current plans to regularise contact with them must be maintained the project, with decentralised support even after their retirement from service. programmes at various locations, and To this end, it is first and foremost nec- the securing of funds for operation from essary to grant all mission participants 2013 onwards under budget law, are to a status of their own. This could in- be welcomed. volve use of the term "deployment re- turnee" or also "veteran". Granting of a 11.2.4 Recourse to civilian therapists status of this kind could then be the starting point for recording the data of As in the past, the therapy capacities of their missions and establishing a sys- the Bundeswehr for treating trauma- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 56 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______tised soldiers are still insufficient. the affected persons. If soldiers have to Therefore, recourse has to be taken to be referred to the civilian sector owing civilian capacities in order to guarantee to capacity bottlenecks at the the necessary treatment. This is not al- Bundeswehr hospitals, it should at ways easy. There is often a lack of suit- least be financially guaranteed that they able, local therapists in the civilian sec- receive appropriate treatment. tor, too. In addition, it is not always clear which therapists are open to con- 11.3 Compensation for persons sideration for treatment. It thus repeat- damaged by radar radiation edly happens that unit physicians pre- scribe soldiers trial sessions with Financial compensation for victims of therapists, but long-term therapy is re- radar radiation who have so far not re- fused by the Bundeswehr as not being ceived damages has at last come closer. approvable because these therapists do Establishment of the Trust Foundation not have the necessary licence. The af- for the Support of Hardship Cases in fected persons then have to look for a the Bundeswehr and the former Na- new therapist. Confidential relation- tional People's Army under the spon- ships that have already developed are sorship of the Soldatenhilfswerk der thus destroyed. Situations of this kind Bundeswehr e.V. (Service Relief Asso- are unreasonable for the soldiers, who ciation) in May 2012 made it possible already suffer enough stress as a result to pay compensation to persons dam- of their traumatisation, and absolutely aged by radar radiation who had no must be avoided. claim to compensation under valid pension law. The Foundation has al- Owing to the discrimination of military ready received numerous applications patients, the charging practice of civil- from victims of radar radiation, some of ian psychotherapists was already criti- which have already resulted in a posi- cised in the last Annual Report, but re- tive decision. grettably continues. When treating mili- tary personnel, psychotherapists can at The Foundation, like all others, is suf- the moment only charge 1.75 times the fering problems as a result of the cur- rate according to the Schedule of Fees, rently low interest level on the capital rather than the otherwise customary 2.3 market. To maintain its operational ca- times the rate. Even if it is possible to pacity, despite the low income from in- obtain approval for psychotherapy at a terest on the Foundation capital, it was higher fee rate – based on an individual allocated a further 3 million Euros on decision and in justified exceptional the basis of an initiative of the Budget cases – this cannot solve the fundamen- Committee and the Defence Committee tal problem of different charging prac- of the German Bundestag. In addition, tices to the detriment of military pa- the manufacturers of radar equipment tients. are also called upon to make a financial contribution to the Foundation. The inpatient treatment of persons with PTSD in civilian clinics is occasionally Following new findings concerning criticised by persons seeking therapy as chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL), being pointless or inadequate. This is cases in which recognition of CLL as a partly due to the fact that the rehabilita- service-related disability was refused tion rates fixed by the Bundeswehr and will be scientifically re-assessed by the paid to civilian clinics for inpatient end of 2012. This is to be welcomed. A treatment, are too low for them to be service-related disability has already able to offer appropriate trauma ther- been retrospectively recognised in sev- apy. The possible range of acute rates to eral of these cases. be paid to the therapy facilities ought to be exploited better in the interests of German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 57 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

It is less pleasing to note that the ser- ness; the court said that this obligation vice-related disability proceedings of was all-embracing. some victims of radar radiation have still not been concluded because the The employer should now proceed ac- Federal Ministry of Defence lodged an cordingly at last. Regrettably, it has in- appeal. This practice is hard to under- stead lodged an appealed against the stand, given the age and fate of the af- decision of the Higher Administrative fected persons. In the interests of the Court with the Federal Administrative victims of radar radiation, these com- Court. The decision of the supreme pensation proceedings should finally court can point the way for the future. be brought to a positive end. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say when the decision will be reached. I Children of former radar soldiers have expect the Bundeswehr to in future not recently begun to claim hereditary close its eyes to assumption of the costs damage. Indirectly affected children and to withdraw the appeal, because fundamentally have no claim to pen- the court decision accurately describes sions if a parent suffers from a service- the obligation of the employer to pro- related disability. Possible damage can vide welfare and care. only be claimed by way of civil-law proceedings. Proceedings of this kind 11.5 Financial security for person- are already pending. The problem in nel injured on operations these cases lies in proving a causal rela- tionship between the service-related 11.5.1 Improvement of financial se- disability and the hereditary damage. I curity, and persisting gaps shall keep an attentive eye on the rele- vant proceedings. Appropriate financial security for wounded and injured soldiers is a fun- 11.4 Assumption of the costs for ar- damental element of the attractiveness tificial insemination of an operational army. Pension legisla- tion has brought about significant im- In recent times, the Office of the Par- provements in recent years. Most re- liamentary Commissioner for the cently, through the Accompanying Act Armed Forces has increasingly been re- for the Reform of the Bundeswehr, the ceiving petitions from servicemen and German Bundestag changed the qualify- women requesting that at least part of ing date for granting of the one-time the costs for measures in connection compensation payment for a deploy- with artificial insemination be borne in ment-related accident to 1 December the framework of free medical care. Ac- 2002. This is to be welcomed, as is the cording to the current regulations, fact that the Federal Ministry of De- which I consider to be unsatisfactory, fence expressly draws the attention of free medical care does not include any all mission participants suffering a de- measures serving family planning pur- ployment-related accident to the possi- poses only, particularly no artificial in- bility of continued military or civilian semination measures. Administrative employment. practice is based on this. The Higher Administrative Court in Mannheim has Despite these improvements, there are now rightly decided that the still gaps in the current pension system. Bundeswehr must assume a service- Compensation payments for personnel woman's costs for artificial insemina- injured on operations between 1992 tion. According to the court decision, and 2002 are still not granted, while en- the employer must take precautions to titlements to retention according to the secure a reasonable livelihood for its Act on the Continued Employment of personnel, even in the event of special Personnel Injured on Operations can financial burdens resulting from ill- already be claimed from 1 July 1992 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 58 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______onwards. These gaps need to be closed non-detection may no longer be im- as soon as possible. posed on the person traumatised on an operation, as has so far been the prac- 11.5.2 Problems when establishing a tice. In this case, the consequences of service-related disability non-detection must rather be ascribed to the employer in terms of pension A major problem of medical care on law. operations that remains unsolved is the separation of application of the Act on Of decisive importance for granting the Continued Employment of Person- pension entitlements is the establish- nel Injured on Operations from service- ment of permanent damage to health in related disability proceedings, in order the framework of the service-related to be able to reach a timely decision in disability proceedings. The fact that cases of personnel injured on opera- there is no corresponding definition tions regarding inclusion in the protec- makes it very hard and time-consuming tion time according to the Act on the to do so in the case of traumatic stress Continued Employment of Personnel disorders. Guidelines could be drawn Injured on Operations. In cases of visi- up by the Psychological Consultant ble physical damage, it is now possible Group or the Psychotrauma Centre, for for this decision to be reached immedi- example. This would be welcome in ately after determination of the facts the interests of the personnel trauma- and before conclusion of the service- tised on operations. related disability proceedings. How- ever, this pleasingly flexible handling In the 2011 Annual Report, I drew at- fails in the case of "invisible" illnesses. tention to the problem that applicants So far, the medical determination of a in disability proceedings receive no causal relationship between military pension benefits whatsoever until con- service and the damaging event is still clusion of the proceedings and can get adhered to in cases of mental illness. into financial difficulties after retiring This is a very restrictive approach, and from service. Based on my suggestion, one that I object to, since it contradicts the Federal Ministry of Defence is now the all-embracing duty of care arising considering the establishment of a from the Soldiers' Act. In these cases, "provisional protection time", which is the duration of the proceedings for es- intended to relieve the burden on ap- tablishing a deployment-related acci- plicants and secure their pension enti- dent is dependent on the final result of tlements during the pending proceed- the service-related disability proceed- ings in protracted cases, this particu- ings, which can take months, or even larly applying to PTSD cases. This is to years in individual instances. be welcomed. However, being a further oppressing risk for the patient, the pos- Fundamentally disregarding pre- sibility of monetary payments being existing damage when examining a ser- demanded back should be ruled out in vice-related disability sustained on an this context. operation can contribute to accelerating the proceedings. Personnel traumatised Apart from the aforementioned possi- on operations often suffer from pre- bilities for accelerating matters, the oc- existing damage. Improved screening casionally long duration of service- and assessment procedures prior to op- related disability proceedings could be erations would make it possible to de- substantially reduced by increasing the termine pre-existing damage as an ob- personnel available for expert medical stacle to participation in an operation. assessment concerning pension-related If pre-existing damage is overlooked issues. The call for more personnel in when establishing or confirming the the medical expert sphere is not new. mission fitness of a soldier, the risk of However, the number of posts for phy- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 59 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______sicians for pension-related medicine in close attention to whether and how the the Bundeswehr has been constantly employer makes use of these new pos- reduced in recent years, to the detri- sibilities in the interests of those af- ment of the injured personnel. As a re- fected. sult, medical assessment concerning pension-related issues has become a 11.5.3 Retired personnel injured on bottleneck in service-related disability operations proceedings. The remaining three posts for experts in the Bundeswehr Medical The procedures for dealing with retired Office were far from sufficient to cope personnel injured on operations have with the roughly 3,600 expert opinions still not been implemented satisfacto- per year. The fact that it is predomi- rily. Following retirement from service, nantly necessary to take recourse to ex- they come under the different compe- ternal experts has turned the original tencies of civilian standard care, with priority of in-house examinations in the its occasionally different practices in Medical Service into the exact oppo- the provision of healthcare. The unifi- site. If must also be criticised that, due cation of competencies and responsi- to lack of time, opinions are currently bilities in the field of disablement pen- drawn up mainly on the basis of the re- sions for soldiers in the Bundeswehr is cords, without examining the injured the goal of "pensions from a single party in person. Three physicians for source". Agreement on the project has social medicine have in the meantime already been reached with the Federal been identified among the former re- Länder, and it should be implemented cruiting organisation physicians, who as soon as possible in the interests of can likewise serve as experts. However, personnel injured on operations. the urgently necessary reform of the system of medical assessment concern- 11.6 Involvement of the relatives of ing pension-related issues should nev- personnel injured on opera- ertheless be taken as an occasion to tions provide for a need-based number of ex- pert posts in the Bundeswehr, so as no For reasons of welfare, the families of longer to be predominantly dependent personnel injured on operations also on external experts in the future. This have an entitlement to support and ad- will, however, not be possible without vice for enforcing their claims. The developing in-house specialist compe- employer offers support through the tence in pension-related medicine Bundeswehr Social Services to this within the Bundeswehr and/or qualify- end. There are also offers from volun- ing Medical Service officers in social tary aid networks. With its care-taking medicine. guides, the Army has moreover created a further form of assistance for injured There are plans to gradually transfer personnel and their relatives. At the medical assessment concerning pen- end of 2012, the Army had 22 such sion-related issues from the dissolved care-taking guides at the unit level. Bundeswehr Medical Office to the new There are plans for 250 care-taking Federal Office of Bundeswehr Person- guides by 2016. The Parliamentary nel Management, where the disable- Commissioner for the Armed Forces ment pension tasks from the Defence will continue to monitor the implemen- Administration will in future be con- tation of this idea and report regularly. centrated. As a result, a single pension authority will then be responsible for The fact that the support and counsel- disablement pensions. This will make ling of injured personnel is still not op- it possible to avoid the time-consuming timum, despite the diverse offers of splitting of proceedings in the recruit- support, is proven by the frequent utili- ing agencies in the future. I will pay sation of external aid organisations and German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 60 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______the increasing establishment of the Central Memorial in Berlin, surviving Bundeswehr's own projects, and also dependants would also like to see external projects of associations and commemoration at the respective last churches, for helping disabled soldiers. location of the fallen. However, the Relatives who look after very severely Bundeswehr does not currently offer disabled soldiers are not relieved by any financial grants for this purpose. any financial support from the em- Up to now, only private collections by ployer. Financial help can only be pro- soldiers have made it possible to erect vided by external sources. In view of memorial stones for the fallen, for ex- the substantial burdens taken upon ample. In order to give dependants the themselves by relatives who look after possibility of individual commemora- very severely disabled persons, gov- tion, the employer should in future also ernment funds should also be made be able to provide financial support for available. The employer must compre- corresponding requests. hensively guarantee welfare services for disabled soldiers and their families. In addition, the memorials erected in the various Bundeswehr camps must be secured during the envisaged troop 12 Surviving dependants withdrawal and, after consulting the af- fected surviving dependants, solemnly In discussions with surviving depend- re-erected in a suitable location. A ants in October 2012, I was able to con- space alongside the existing vince myself that a largely satisfactory Bundeswehr Memorial at the Federal solution is usually found regarding the Ministry of Defence in Berlin has al- financial security of spouses and com- ready been mentioned in this context. mon children in the event of the death Other proposals included the location of a soldier. In contrast, unmarried of the Bundeswehr Joint Operations partners and parents so far have no Command or the Reichstag building. claim to a survivors' pension in the All these proposals have their advo- form of regular maintenance payments. cates and their opponents, and the de- Pension gaps are currently closed by pendants should most certainly be foundations in individual cases. How- closely involved in the decision. ever, this is always limited to isolated instances. Against this backdrop, con- sideration should be given to also 13 Removal expenses law granting pension payments to the latter group of persons. The employer should Reference was repeatedly made in pre- not evade its responsibility by referring vious Annual Reports to the fact that, to charitable foundations, at least not in owing to changed social behaviour, and cases where the dead soldier had main- particularly the retention of a fixed cen- tenance obligations towards these per- tre of life for military families, even in sons. the event of a transfer, the Bundeswehr has become a commuter army and that The counselling and support provided this must be taken into account by way by the Bundeswehr is predominantly of new developments in removal ex- viewed positively by surviving de- penses law. The Federal Ministry of De- pendants. The decisive point is fence announced a project for introduc- whether and how the dead soldier's ing an – albeit limited-term – choice be- former unit looks after the dependants. tween reimbursement of removal ex- Most dependants expressly wish to penses and a claim to separation allow- maintain personal contact with the ance, which raised hopes of a solution troops. The dependants must also be that does justice to the problem. able to commemorate their fallen rela- tives individually. In addition to the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 61 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

However, the corresponding amend- programme is, however, dependent on ment of the Federal Removal Expenses the only limited infrastructure funds Ordinance is still in the process of in- available, as well as on implementation terdepartmental coordination. The draft of the stationing concept. This means currently provides for a choice in the that the accommodation of many sol- event of an anticipated duration of the diers will look much worse in reality assignment at the new location of up to for quite a long time yet. I also gained five years. This is generally to be wel- this insight from my visits to the comed. What does appear problematic, troops. Many soldiers still have to re- however, is that the new regulation is a sign to obsolete infrastructure and ac- pilot project with a time limit of four commodation that is occupied by more years, and that a decision regarding its persons and offers only minimum fur- prolongation is only to be taken after an nishings. This greatly detracts from the evaluation phase. The reason for this is attractiveness of the locations. the current position of the Ministries of the Interior and of Finance, which re- To improve the accommodation of per- ject a general, permanent solution and sonnel who commute between home apparently only accept the introduction and their duty location, a budget note of a choice for areas in which substan- was introduced in the year under re- tial structural changes lead to a major view that makes it possible to use increase in transfers. Should they stick budget funds to refurbish commuter ac- to this position, it is to be feared that commodation within barracks. How- the newly introduced choice will be ever, this can only be done in the con- dropped again after completion of the text of building maintenance measures. structural reform. This does not meet It is so far not possible to refurbish my demand for a permanent solution. commuter accommodation in the The problem of the commuter army framework of complete renovation or must at last be acknowledged and taken new construction projects, since this into account in removal expenses law. requires the development of procedural guidelines that have to be coordinated A positive development for recipients with the Federal Ministry of Finance. of separation allowance is that, with ef- fect from June 2012, electricity costs are It appears that little attention is often reimbursed with the separation allow- paid to the Minister's promise to give ance even if the persons entitled to priority to using vacated properties for separation allowance have taken out commuter flats and improving the ac- electricity contracts themselves. commodation situation. Discussion partners repeatedly and rightly com- plain about this. Beyond comprehen- 14 Accommodation situation and sion is the abandonment of a pilot pro- commuter problem ject in Munich, where an apartment building near the location was rented The accommodation situation must be in order to provide recipients of separa- improved in order to be able to offer tion allowance with furnished flats. military personnel adequate and attrac- This was intended to cover the demand tive housing. This aim is served by the for accommodation resulting from the planned introduction of an improved closure and renovation of barracks. housing standard. Based on the previ- ous "Kaserne 2000" barracks moderni- Beyond this, the maximum reimburse- sation programme, the new accommo- ment for recipients of separation allow- dation is to comply with the "training ance for rented accommodation in the course standard", meaning accommoda- Munich area was reduced from 900 to tion in pairs of single rooms with a 600 Euros in mid-2012 – an incompre- shared wet room. Realisation of this hensible step, particularly in the high- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 62 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______price region of Munich and in a phase higher disciplinary superiors bearing of significantly rising rents. primary responsibility for implementa- tion of the Decree fear that, owing to Thus, the problem of insufficient com- the high volume of work and the in- muter accommodation remains un- creasingly tight personnel framework – solved. It can only be hoped that the also partly resulting from the missions coordination processes can be com- abroad – it will hardly be possible, pleted soon, so that commuters can at given the vast number of cases, for per- last also be provided with sufficient, sonnel to regularly take one day off per low-cost housing through the employer, month in lieu unless fundamental or- and not only through the personal ini- ganisational and personnel measures tiative of their superiors. are taken to relieve the burden of work on the personnel. On the other hand, the Federal Ministry of Defence says 15 Impact of the new Decree on that amendment of the Decree, which Overtime Compensation on the was urgently necessary and also re- troops quested by the troops, allowed no de- lay, this being why the pressure on the The objectives of the new Decree on troops had been accepted. This does Overtime Compensation, which came not solve the problem described by the into effect on 1 July 2012, are generally troops. The targeted improvement must to be welcomed. However, it gives too not lead to a situation where company little consideration to the needs of the commanders and disciplinary superiors troops. are left on their own to deal with the negative consequences of the required Amendment was necessary in order to priority of time off in lieu. In this re- eliminate existing unclear points – es- spect, the employer is called upon to pecially in the case of automatic time make any necessary adjustments. recording – and also to put even greater emphasis on the priority of time off in Another important and positive change lieu. to the benefit of the soldiers is the clari- fication that soldiers receiving pay for The old regulation already stipulated foreign assignments are likewise cov- that overtime was only to be paid for if ered by the Decree on Overtime Com- time off in lieu was impossible for op- pensation. Owing to statutory provi- erational reasons. In practice, however, sions to the contrary, however, only precisely the opposite was the case. For time off in lieu of payment can be lack of possibilities for taking time off granted in these cases. However, even in lieu, payment was in fact the rule. this continues to be ruled out for sol- diers receiving a foreign duty allow- The new Decree now prescribes that at ance of Level 2 and higher since, least one day per month is to be taken among other things, this allowance also off in lieu before payment can be con- covers the special demands on time re- sidered at all. Before the new Decree sulting from missions. From my point was issued, there had been demands for of view, this must be considered an in- a compulsory three days off per month justice. in lieu of payment. These demands were, however, unsuccessful. Additional funds amounting to 75 mil- lion Euros have been included in the As welcome as the priority of time off budget plans in view of the approxi- in lieu may be from the point of view of mate doubling of the remuneration welfare, this regulation could lead to rates for special time burdens in ser- substantial operational problems for the vice. It is not yet possible to say troops. The company commanders and whether this amount will suffice. The German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 63 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______funds are, however, not limited to the above amount, because the employer is For military personnel who enlist for a obliged by law to make these payments. period of more than 20 years, a mainte- Therefore, the necessary volume of nance allowance was introduced in ad- budget funds must be made available at dition to the other advancement enti- all events. tlements for the event of subsequent unemployment, in order to guarantee It remains to be seen whether the new basic social welfare coverage inde- Decree will prove successful in prac- pendently of general social security tice, not least because of the practical payments. However, in view of a period problems involved in enforcing the pri- of service of more than 20 years, which ority of time off in lieu. By way of pre- often also involves the aggravated con- caution, the Ministry has already com- ditions of missions abroad, this main- missioned a "Study on the Develop- tenance allowance should be well ment of Attractive and Competitive above the social security minimum. Duty Hour and Overtime Compensation Models for Servicemen and Women of As a result of the shifting of vocational the Bundeswehr". In addition, a com- advancement to the time after the end prehensive and sufficiently detailed of the period of service, the new provi- situation report is for the first time to sions essentially apply only to newly determine and evaluate the time bur- recruited personnel. den of servicemen and women. This study was overdue. In the context of increased cooperation with the Bundeswehr, the Employment Agency, in particular, and also many 16 Reform of vocational ad- business enterprises offer retired mili- vancement tary personnel help with reintegration into civilian working life. One positive The reform of vocational advancement example is the Deutsche Bahn national by the Accompanying Act for the Re- railway company, which, together with form of the Bundeswehr mainly has its subsidiaries, offers numerous jobs positive aspects for the affected tempo- for former temporary-career volunteers. rary-career volunteers, but it also has The Bundeswehr Vocational Advance- deficiencies. ment Service provides valuable assis- tance in this context by setting up In keeping with the military demand to counselling centres and organising job increase the time spent in service by exchanges. The placement rate of al- soldiers, all vocational advancement is most 94 percent of all job-seeking sol- to be shifted to the time after military diers demonstrates the success of voca- service. To compensate for the longer tional advancement to date. Thanks for overall time spent in service, the ad- this assistance must be extended to the vancement period was adapted to the Bundeswehr's cooperation partners, as possible enlistment term in linear form, well as to the Federal Employment and in some cases greatly increased, Agency and the Vocational Advance- having previously merely been divided ment Service. into three rough stages. This is to be welcomed. However, the question re- mains as to whether, in the case of a 17 Pensions of career soldiers temporary-career volunteer enlisting for with cumulative years of ser- four years, the future 12-month voca- vice in the National People's tional advancement will suffice to per- Army mit reintegration in the civilian sector. It would appear more sensible to ex- Quite rightly a recurring subject of peti- tend the enlistment terms. tions is the fact that the pensions of ca- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 64 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______reer soldiers with cumulative years of pensions, which are disadvantageous service in the former National People's for career soldiers. Army who were accepted into the Bundeswehr are below the pension level of soldiers serving exclusively in 19 Reorientation of government- the Bundeswehr. It has so far not been furnished meals and MWR possible to find a solution because of food service the fundamental system decision in the Unification Treaty, according to which As part of the reorientation of the all accrued rights acquired in the for- Bundeswehr, the Federal Ministry of mer GDR were to be transferred to the Defence approved the long overdue statutory pension insurance system for concept on "Government-Furnished reasons of equal treatment. It is to be Meals and MWR Food Service in the hoped that the new petition "for closing Bundeswehr" in October 2012. Accord- a pension gap" will indeed bring about ing to this concept, the remaining loca- a change in the law to the benefit of the tions are to retain their existing troop affected persons. kitchens. This is to be welcomed. In contrast, individual decisions are to be taken regarding the continued opera- 18 Disadvantageous equalisation tion of the junior ranks', NCO and offi- of pensions for retired career cers' clubs, giving consideration to the soldiers prevailing local conditions, in which context mergers of the existing clubs The reason for several petitions in the are to be examined. This is not a future- year under review was the regulation oriented concept. under which the pension of career sol- diers divorced during their active ser- The employer's duty of welfare and vice is reduced by the extrapolated care also includes the provision of lei- equalisation of pensions at the start of sure-time offers for its personnel. Ac- retirement, regardless of the age limit cording to Joint Service Regulation for retirement. This cut is even made 10/1, recreation is the key to successful independently of whether the former leadership and a foundation of com- spouse entitled to equalisation already radeship. If the employer wants to do receives a pension from equalisation. justice to this, it must also create the For career soldiers – and equally for framework conditions necessary for op- early retirers – this results in an occa- erating the recreational facilities. That sionally much higher overall cut than is currently not the case. for persons who end their active service at a higher age. The criticism expressed Operation of the officers' and NCO by the persons affected by this regula- clubs managed by the soldiers them- tion is justified. When reforming the selves can today only be secured by as- structure of pension equalisation, it signing personnel that is officially was for this reason that the Federal scheduled for other duties, but suppos- Ministry of Defence also advocated a edly dispensable. In this context, com- general deferment of the start of cuts in manders are forced to go to the limits of pensions according to Section 55c Mili- what is officially permissible. This is tary Pensions Act to the general age not a sustainable solution in the long limit applicable to federal civil ser- term. The employer is called upon to vants, or at least to career soldiers. Un- secure the continued operation of the fortunately, it was unable to assert itself junior ranks', NCO and officers' clubs against the other departments. I cannot by providing corresponding personnel understand this. I expect a change in and financial support. the regulations on the equalisation of

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 65 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

20 State medical aid 20.2 Entitlement of relatives to state medical aid 20.1 Processing times of applica- tions for state medical aid According to the Federal Regulations on Government Aid and Allowances, Excessively long processing times were the sickness-related treatment costs of not only criticised in the personnel sec- federal employees are partly reim- tor, as described in Chapter 10.2. The bursed. In principle, this also applies to time taken to process applications for retired career soldiers and temporary- state medical aid was also the subject of career volunteers during the time in criticism in the year under review. which they receive transition allow- From the beginning of the year, there ance. Active soldiers usually have no was a growing number of petitions claims to state medical aid, because complaining about the unreasonably they receive free medical care. long time taken to process applications for state medical aid in the sphere of Eligible relatives are also entitled to the Military District Administrative Of- state medical aid, i.e. spouses and part- fice, South. ners up to certain income limits, as well as children. The percentage of the Although the law on state medical aid cost reimbursement (assessment rate) is contains no legal entitlement to appli- 70 percent for former soldiers, spouses cations for state medical aid being and partners, and 80 percent for chil- processed within a certain period of dren. If the eligible relatives have an time, the Federal Ministry of Defence independent claim to reimbursement – has internally defined a target of nine e.g. on the basis of statutory health in- working days as the average processing surance due to being gainfully em- time, but no more than 15 working ployed – this takes priority over the days. This is appropriate, since the ap- claim to state medical aid, meaning that plicant usually has to pay in advance. an additional claim to state medical aid This target has no longer been reached is only open to consideration in excep- in the sphere of the Military District tional cases, for instance if healthcare Administrative Office, South since the services are not covered by the statu- beginning of the year. tory health insurance system.

The reasons given for the occasionally Since soldiers' relatives have only a far longer processing times were unde- certain percentage of joint cover under ferrable changeovers in the IT equip- the state medical aid system, in con- ment in the first quarter of 2012, which trast to compulsory statutory health in- had had a negative impact on the com- surance, they need to additionally pro- puter-based medical aid accounting tect themselves by means of insurance system, and an unusually high number if they do not already have health in- of applications for medical aid, com- surance cover elsewhere. Since, despite pared to the previous year. The situa- the statutory obligation to take out ade- tion was made worse by personnel bot- quate health insurance, military fami- tlenecks resulting from the departure of lies are still uncertain about optimum more than 20 case managers. insurance cover, particularly in the event of foreign assignments, the em- The newly assigned personnel has so ployer must be reminded of its duty to far not been able to work off the back- provide military personnel with the log owing to the necessary familiarisa- necessary information on the subject. tion. Consequently, every effort must continue to be made to get back to normal processing times.

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 66 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

21 Residence registration regula- fected persons to vote and stand for tion for unmarried military election at their actual centre of life. personnel

It was reported in the previous Annual 22 Chaplain service Report that unmarried military person- nel must register their principal place As in previous years, the extensive of residence at the duty location or at chaplain service was in great demand. the location of the home port of their Particularly on missions abroad, sol- ship. diers who do not have close ties to their church at home, or do not belong to a This stipulation of the principal place church at all, turn to the local chap- of residence has an impact on basic lains with their problems and worries. rights, such as consequences for the They consider the constantly open ear right of the affected persons to vote and of the chaplains and the joint celebra- stand in local government elections. tion of church services to be an en- There are additionally financial effects, richment. such as possibly dearer car insurance, double TV and radio licence fees, sec- However, the Roman Catholic and ondary-home tax in the actual home Protestant chaplains not only accom- town, the risk of being unable to deduct pany the troops, but also provide journeys home from tax, and also prac- much-praised support for relatives and tical aspects, such as loss of the enti- surviving dependants. The events for tlement to a place in a child day-care families are particularly well attended centre in the actual home town or the during soldiers' absence from home on additional need to re-register the place missions abroad. The chaplain service of residence or a motor vehicle. is also integrated in the Bundeswehr's Psychosocial Network, where interdis- At the end of 2011, it looked as though ciplinary assistance is provided for sol- the problem was going to be solved in diers and their relatives in difficult the interests of the soldiers by the draft situations in life. Finally, by organising of an Act on the Further Development moral guidance and instruction classes of the Registration System (MeldFortG), for the troops, the chaplains contribute adopted by the cabinet in August 2011. to giving the "citizens in uniform" ethi- cal orientation. Unfortunately, the bill was amended during its deliberation in the German I would like to express my thanks for Bundestag, the exemption of military this diverse range of offers and for the personnel from the obligation to regis- impressive commitment of the staff of ter at the duty location being deleted. the chaplain service to the soldiers. Affected soldiers expressed their an- noyance about this amendment in sev- The fact was already addressed in the eral petitions. 2011 Annual Report that a growing number of soldiers are of a different The bill is currently being dealt with by conviction or belief. Consequently, the the Mediation Committee for other rea- Defence Committee of the German sons. During the deliberations there, I Bundestag has called upon the Federal will continue to urge that the originally Ministry of Defence to also provide rep- envisaged exemption of unmarried resentatives of these religions or con- military personnel from compulsory fessions as contacts. The Bundeswehr registration at the duty location be re- Institute of Social Sciences is currently included in the wording of the law, in determining the need for representa- order to guarantee the right of the af- tives of other faiths. The results of the German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 67 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______survey have been announced for spring The findings obtained in the framework 2013. of visits to the troops are reflected in, among other things, assessments and statements by the Parliamentary Com- 23 Outlook missioner for the Armed Forces, e.g. on stationing decisions, equipment issues Each Annual Report covers a period of or the mood of the troops. Statements one calendar year. Looking towards of this kind repeatedly meet with criti- 2013, implementation of the reorienta- cism. This occasions me to conclude by tion of the Bundeswehr will most making a few brief remarks regarding probably continue to be the item gov- how I understand the office of the Par- erning the work of the Parliamentary liamentary Commissioner for the Commissioner for the Armed Forces. It Armed Forces and the associated will have to be seen whether this reori- sphere of responsibility. entation really does make the Bundeswehr more effective and effi- The understanding of the office of the cient. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces has always been at the In my view, relief of the burdens in the centre of very different, conflicting in- field of missions abroad cannot be ex- terests, not least those of the German pected. The repatriation of the troops Bundestag, the Federal Government and the materiel after the emerging end and the soldiers. The most frequently of the ISAF mandate will cause prob- expressed criticism related to supposed lems whose extent cannot yet be esti- exceeding of competences on the part mated. The commitment in Afghanistan of the holders of the office in the form will not be definitively terminated of remarks and comments of a nature anyway, as indicated by the discussion that was political, or at least felt to be regarding a follow-up mandate. Above political. and beyond this, signs of new interna- tional commitments are emerging. The constitutional position of the Par- liamentary Commissioner for the At home, the attention of the Parlia- Armed Forces is such that he is not mentary Commissioner for the Armed supposed to comment on, and certainly Forces will continue to focus mainly on not criticise, decisions taken by parlia- the compatibility of family and service, ment and its bodies, particularly by the particularly the impact of the stationing Defence Committee. He can and must, decisions, and the pensions of military however, point out the consequences of personnel and their families. Needless these decisions and, where appropriate, to say, I will observe the rights and ob- propose supplementary measures in ligations assigned to me in the constitu- order to avoid or alleviate undesirable tion. Among other things, this includes side effects. the right to make unannounced visits to the troops. All my predecessors in office have so far unopposedly seen themselves as be- In the past year, I also paid unan- ing the defenders of the interests of nounced visits to civilian agencies of soldiers vis-à-vis parliament and the the Bundeswehr for the first time. Vis- public. Recalling the aforementioned its of this kind to military units are, restriction regarding the decisions of however, not always a good idea, since parliament and its bodies, I likewise the Parliamentary Commissioner for the consider this to be an apt description of Armed Forces quite often finds bar- the job of the Parliamentary Commis- racks empty owing to the troops being sioner for the Armed Forces, and one away on exercises or missions. which I shall continue to take as my guide. This defence relates to all issues German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 68 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______and problems associated with the ser- liamentary Commissioner for the vice of military personnel. Armed Forces in no way leads to any restriction of the rights of parliament. Service in the armed forces has quite In addition to which, the fact must also obviously undergone radical change in not be overlooked that the Parliamen- recent years. The conscript army of the tary Commissioner for the Armed Cold War has turned into a volunteer Forces has no executive powers of his army on missions. The burdens associ- own, meaning that he will always be ated with the reorientation of the reliant on the German Bundestag, as his Bundeswehr, both at home and on mis- employer, the Defence Committee, as sions, intervene in the rights of soldiers the supervisory body with power to in various ways. Against this backdrop, give him instructions, and the Federal the question was raised as to whether, Minister of Defence taking up his sug- in view of the underlying decisions of gestions and initiating any necessary the Federal Government and parlia- action. ment, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces is allowed to In the framework of the aforementioned make statements on issues relating to tasks assigned by the constitution, the the training, arming and equipping of Parliamentary Commissioner for the soldiers. Armed Forces is not limited to address- ing only general matters relating to the The answer is given by the constitu- protection of basic rights. The protec- tion. According to Article 45b of the tion of basic rights is also always spe- Basic Law, the Parliamentary Commis- cific. After all, soldiers' basic rights, sioner for the Armed Forces is ap- particularly their entitlement to protec- pointed "to safeguard the basic rights tion of their lives and their physical in- and to assist the Bundestag in exercis- tegrity in the framework of their train- ing parliamentary control". It goes ing and their deployment, would be without saying in this context that par- violated if other aspects were to take liamentary control can primarily only priority over soldiers' right to protec- be exercised by parliament itself and tion, such as questions of political ex- that the Parliamentary Commissioner pedience, industrial policy considera- for the Armed Forces, who is not a tions or cost reasons in connection with member of the German Bundestag, can training, equipment or deployment. In thus only provide assistance. Regard- this context, the Chairman of the Advi- less of this, however, protection of the sory Council on Leadership Develop- basic rights of soldiers is assigned to ment and Civic Education, Prof. Reiner him as a primary task. This is also re- Pommerin, quite rightly points out that flected in the Act on the Parliamentary the provision of inadequate equipment Commissioner for the Armed Forces. is unworthy of the appropriate treat- Apart from being bound by the instruc- ment of a "citizen in uniform" in a de- tions given by parliament, it assigns mocracy. him an independent sphere of respon- sibility as regards protection of the ba- In the context of protection of basic sic rights of soldiers and of the princi- rights, the responsibility of the Parlia- ples of internal leadership on the basis mentary Commissioner for the Armed of exercise of his best judgement. Forces encompasses not only matters relating to training, equipment and The opposite view, which argues that arms, but also the organisation of op- this cannot be the intention of the au- erations, be it specification of the duty thors of the constitution, since it de- location in the framework of a transfer prives parliament of some of its own or a secondment, determination of the competencies, fails to recognise that the hours of work, or also selection deci- assignment of competencies to the Par- sions regarding assignment, to name German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 69 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______but a few examples. All the aforemen- Commissioner for the Armed Forces tioned decisions have implications of may comply with such a request. As a relevance to basic rights, particularly rule, I also do so. with regard to the protection of mar- riage and the family. In this respect, these aspects are likewise part of the 24 Exemplary cases for the 2012 sphere of responsibility of the Parlia- Annual Report mentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, and I shall continue to devote 24.1 Leadership and training my attention to them in the future. Tone/Compatibility of family and ser- Apart from the understanding of the of- vice fice, the working methods of the Par- liamentary Commissioner for the A senior NCO applied for two days' Armed Forces were also criticised, spe- overtime compensation in order to be cifically the handling of anonymous pe- able to look after his child. Since a titions. This criticism is misplaced. The night firing exercise was scheduled for law says that anonymous petitions are one of the days, he was rung up by his not processed. This provision is, of next-higher disciplinary superior, a course, observed. Anonymous letters captain, and asked about the reasons are merely recorded and then filed. for applying for time off. In the course of the telephone conversation, the cap- Regardless of this, the Parliamentary tain stated that he would even reject an Commissioner for the Armed Forces application for overtime compensation can, based on his own best judgement, if someone wanted to holiday at home also take action on his own decision if because of a sick horse. The captain's he becomes aware of indications of the responsible disciplinary superior re- violation of soldiers' basic rights or of frained from taking disciplinary action, the principles of internal leadership. making do with a caution instead. The Such indications can come from visits commenting commander of the respon- to the troops, communications from sible operations command quite rightly Members of the German Bundestag, considered this reaction to be inade- press reports or other sources, includ- quate. ing anonymous letters. However, this does not lead to letters of this kind be- Leadership behaviour/Tone ing treated as petitions. Rather, the in- dications are examined, independently One petitioner complained about com- of the letter, by the Parliamentary ments made by his deputy company Commissioner for the Armed Forces sergeant major. When the company conducting his own investigations if lined up, the latter had, among other other circumstances reveal that the ba- things, said something to the effect that sic rights of soldiers or the principles of he did not apologise to anybody for internal leadership are affected. anything he had said or done in the past months. If he said a soldier was an Anonymous letters must be distin- "arsehole", then that was what he guished from petitions in which the pe- meant. To emphasise his dissatisfaction titioner discloses her or his name to the with her work, he on more than one oc- Parliamentary Commissioner for the casion said to a servicewoman "Oh, Armed Forces, but requests that her or lady .... I'm growing breasts!". In the his name not be mentioned when ex- presence of a dark-skinned soldier, he amining the information provided. Ac- asked another soldier to make him a cording to Section 9 of the Act on the coffee, because the "Negro" couldn't Parliamentary Commissioner for the manage it. The proven misconduct of Armed Forces, the Parliamentary the soldier, who had in past years in German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 70 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______been awarded ten formal commenda- tions by various superiors, was pun- A chief petty officer, whose official du- ished by a substantial disciplinary fine. ties gave him access to patient records, reported from them to comrades that a Tone/Insult based on regional origin newly arrived comrade was homosex- ual and HIV-positive. The soldier con- A first sergeant told his orderly room cerned complained about this to his soldiers originating from the new Fed- disciplinary superior. Since the disci- eral Länder that they were dependent plinary superior did not believe the af- on others and incapable of surviving on fected soldier, owing to false testimony their own. According to the investiga- by a witness, the soldier turned to the tions by the Disciplinary Attorney for police. The charge was confirmed in the Armed Forces, his words were: the course of the criminal investiga- "That's typical of Ossis [Eastern Ger- tions. Although the institution of re- mans], it can't possibly work like that. newed judicial disciplinary proceed- The corners of your mouths are always ings would have been indicated, owing pointing down", and he said it was no to the seriousness of the disciplinary wonder that they had had to wait 18 offence, which had major impact on years for a Trabant car in the old days. routine duty, and owing to the circum- Based on these remarks and other cases stance that judicial disciplinary action of serious misconduct, judicial disci- had already been taken against the plinary proceedings against the soldier chief petty officer in the past, a high were instigated and are still in progress. disciplinary fine was merely imposed in this case. Incorrect exercise of disciplinary power Exaggerated discipline A sergeant failed to report back to his unit following an examination by the A staff sergeant of the airborne infantry unit physician. Thereupon, a company bet that he could jump from the para- commander gave the sergeant a severe chute tower of a paratrooper barracks a reprimand, although the soldier was hundred times in one day. Another not under his command at the time of staff sergeant bet against him. Since he the reprimand. Based on the appeal lost the bet, he subsequently jumped lodged against it, the next-higher com- naked from the parachute tower, as manding officer lifted the disciplinary promised in the wager. Numerous sol- measure. A reprimand subsequently diers, including a senior officer with given by the deputy regimental com- the rank of major, were present during mander was similarly lifted again by the jumps. Disciplinary investigations the commander of the division troops regarding the jumps were only started for formal reasons. Finally, the regi- following an anonymous letter to the mental commander reprimanded the Federal Ministry of Defence. After con- sergeant. The fact that the regimental clusion of the investigations, a disci- commander likewise had no discipli- plinary fine was only imposed on a nary power at the time of the repri- captain, who was not to assume leader- mand initially went unnoticed during ship of a company in the battalion until processing of the petition, also by the three days after the jumps, due to division. Once the Parliamentary breach of the duty to exercise supervi- Commissioner for the Armed Forces sion. The disciplinary fine was only had complained about this, the disci- lifted by the competent Bundeswehr plinary measure was lifted for the third Disciplinary and Complaints Court for time. formal reasons in the framework of the appeal procedure instigated by the cap- Inadequate reaction to a disciplinary tain. Moreover, in the reasons for its offence judgement, the court made it perfectly German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 71 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______clear that it would also have considered turely dismissed from the service of the disciplinary action to be substantively Bundeswehr on account of these inci- inadmissible, in view of the presence of dents and two other disciplinary of- a senior officer and the fact that the fences committed in the past. captain was superior to the staff ser- geant "only" on the basis of rank. The Misconduct and disciplinary punish- question remained unanswered as to ment why the investigations were so one- sided and the reactions so inappropri- A staff sergeant deliberately head- ate at both the battalion and the brigade butted a lance corporal during a foot- level. ball match, breaking his nose. The lance corporal had to be taken to hospi- Exaggerated training tal and underwent surgery on the fol- lowing day. He was unfit for service for A lieutenant carried out a sport exer- some time. The incident was punished cise with course participants in the as intentional bodily harm by a penal framework of military fitness training. order. The responsible company com- The course participants then lay in a mander and the battalion commander row on their backs. Each course par- were of the opinion that, knowing the ticipant subsequently ran over the staff sergeant, the offence had been tensed abdominal muscles of his com- adequately punished from the official rades. The professional assessment by point of view by the caution given. In the Bundeswehr Institute of Sports view of the seriousness of the offence, Medicine confirmed that the exercise the divisional commander instituted was unsuitable for increasing physical judicial disciplinary proceedings performance and impermissible owing against the staff sergeant. to the risk of injury. Non-judicial disci- plinary action was taken against the Behaviour of a superior towards a ser- lieutenant. vicewoman

Misconduct under the influence of al- A servicewoman complained about the cohol behaviour and verbal remarks of her superior. At the start of their coopera- In a slightly drunken state while off tion, he had told her that she could duty, a non-commissioned officer uri- turn to him in confidence if she had nated in public between the legs of a any problems. In fact, however, he then non-rated serviceman who was also have her answers like "Stop getting on present, his urine soiling the comrade. my nerves" and "You're the rank and When the serviceman defended himself file". In response to the request to en- against this behaviour and pushed the quire about the training courses neces- NCO away, the NCO punched him in sary for the woman's planned ISAF the face. The serviceman's upper lip mission, he is said to have replied: "Is it split and bled. The NCO was prema- me who wants to go to that shit coun- turely dismissed from the service of the try, or you?". His favourite, much-used Bundeswehr. phrase for expressing his views about women at the workplace was: "Too While under the influence of alcohol in many tits in one room always causes a discotheque, a staff sergeant struck a trouble". Since the superior repeatedly comrade, breaking the latter's specta- failed to satisfy the requirements of in- cles. Having been ejected by the secu- ternal leadership and was moreover rity staff of the discotheque, he struck a guilty of a disciplinary offence, disci- passer-by, who wanted to help him in plinary action was taken in the form of view of his obviously alcohol-induced a reprimand. He was also instructed to helpless state. The soldier was prema- take part in a training course on "Lead- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 72 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______ership Development and Civic Educa- When a shot was accidentally fired tion for First Sergeants". with a P 8, a corporal on a mission shot himself in the left index finger and had 24.2 Right-wing extremism to be sent back to Germany. Another corporal sustained mild tinnitus. A lance corporal in civilian dress illic- itly smoked in an ICE train and listened During gunnery training on a mission, a to banned right-wing extremist music lieutenant colonel accidentally fired a over the loudspeakers of his laptop. His shot from his G 36. No threat to other fellow passengers were able to identify soldiers was determined. During the him as a soldier, based on his review of the incident, it was conceded Bundeswehr rucksack and his that two soldiers on missions had acci- Bundeswehr bag. He also produced his dentally fired a shot into a clearing box soldier's identity card to the ticket in- in two further cases. All three soldiers spector. The other passengers found the were ordered to undergo supplemen- soldier's behaviour offensive. A volun- tary weapon training. tary breath test performed after the train journey revealed that the soldier During a weapons inspection on a mis- had a breath alcohol concentration of sion, a staff sergeant accidentally fired 2.15 per mil. He was prematurely dis- a shot from an MP 7. The shot hit a sol- missed from the service of the dier in the upper body. Two other sol- Bundeswehr. diers sustained mild tinnitus.

In a barracks, a lance corporal photo- During a live-fire exercise, a staff ser- graphed a comrade in uniform with geant, detailed as security officer, was arm stretched out in the manner of a hit in the right shoulder by a shot from Nazi salute. The photo was sent to an- a G 36 and severely injured. The lance other lance corporal by mobile phone. corporal firing the shot had lost his ori- In addition, the photo was loaded as entation on the target range and mis- the call image on the mobile telephone taken the injured person and three of a corporal, without his knowledge. other soldiers for targets. While the dis- Disciplinary action was taken against ciplinary investigations against the the soldiers involved in producing the lance corporal were dropped, the com- image. They were moreover informed petent Disciplinary Attorney for the in writing, by way of an "explicit noti- Armed Forces is examining the institu- fication", that they would have to ex- tion of judicial disciplinary proceed- pect to be instantly dismissed from the ings against the staff sergeant detailed service of the Bundeswehr in the event as security officer, and against the offi- of a further disciplinary offence. cer in charge of the live-fire exercise, for inadequate analysis of the training A court sentenced a private to a non- group and massive disregard of safety appealable fine for provoking hatred regulations. among the people and the use of sym- bols of organisations hostile to the con- 24.4 Personnel matters stitution. Based on further findings, the Bundeswehr Counterintelligence Office Deficiencies in personnel management rated him as a right-wing extremist in the Bundeswehr. He was prematurely A non-rated serviceman submitted the dismissed from the service of the documents necessary for applying for a Bundeswehr. change of career to his agency. Al- though the documents were complete, 24.3 Accidents with weapons they were not further processed by his unit until two months later. As a result of this delay, it was a further four-and- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 73 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______a-half months before the petitioner was obliged to issue a provisional testimo- invited to the responsible Recruiting nial of this kind before release from Centre for the aptitude test and found military service, even without being re- to be suitable there. In the framework of quested to do so. Only in the frame- processing the petition, the Federal work of processing of the petition did Ministry of Defence conceded that such said disciplinary superior issue a testi- a long processing time is unacceptable monial, although it was far from com- and occasioned action at the agency in plying with the formal requirements of question to ensure speedier processing the regulations and was completely of applications in future. lacking any kind of care. Only after the responsible brigade command stepped Assessment system in did the company commander issue a formally correct testimonial. The A staff sergeant complained about his Bundeswehr saw this as being a fun- assessment being handed over with the damental failure in the issue of testi- comment by his disciplinary superior: monials in the unit in question and "You're a quota victim, but we can talk gave orders for comprehensive training about it". He said he had additionally measures and supervision of the issue been given confirmation that the aver- of testimonials. age grade had not been lowered be- cause he had deteriorated since the last Unequal treatment assessment, but because the group of persons to be assessed had changed. It was the experience of a temporary- Following the explanatory conversation career volunteer that he was refused with the next-higher disciplinary supe- promotion to staff sergeant on the le- rior, the soldier found that his assess- gally correct grounds that his time in ment had already been signed by this service would soon be ending. While superior before the conversation. The he could quite understand the regula- investigations into this case have not tory situation, he was astonished to see yet been concluded. that two comrades in the same position had nonetheless been promoted. When Rejection of applicants for health rea- the soldier was then also repeatedly re- sons quested – without being given any rea- sons – to submit the same documents to One applicant was surprised that he complete his personnel records, and had not been allowed to take part in the additionally found that his personnel sport test during his recruitment test, records contained incorrect assessment because his Body Mass Index was said periods as the prerequisite for promo- to be too high. He was told to lose 16 tion, this understandably shattered his kilograms by the time of the next test. confidence in even materially correct The applicant, who wanted to rejoin personnel management. The constitu- the Bundeswehr as a re-employed sol- tional principle that there is no equal dier, felt this treatment to be unfair, be- treatment in wrong, was also put to a cause he thought he could also lose the particularly hard test of acceptance in 16 kilograms during his service with his case, because the comrades pro- the Bundeswehr. moted in contravention of the regula- tions served with him every day. Testimonials Delay in personnel management In an overall period of a year, a staff sergeant in the Vocational Advance- The cause of the delay in processing ment Service repeatedly requested his the application of a staff sergeant for a disciplinary superior to issue a provi- new post was that a statement from a sional testimonial. The superior is disciplinary superior was missing, due German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 74 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______to inadequate knowledge of the regula- tions in his unit. Only after two months A lance corporal felt 'cheated' by the was the applicant informed of the proc- Bundeswehr in that his application for essing status and the reason for the prolongation of his period of service processing time. After having to experi- was rejected, although the Bundeswehr ence this kind of thing, it is hard to had initially 'offered' him the possibil- make it clear to a soldier that the rejec- ity of re-enlistment. tion of his application was not due to any objective error. During processing of the petition, it was confirmed that, roughly six months Delay in the decision on re-enlistment after applying for re-enlistment as a temporary-career volunteer in the ca- A reserve sergeant applied for re- reer of non-rated serviceman for a total enlistment in the career of senior NCO of eight years, he had received several in the Bundeswehr General Specialist job offers, one of which he had finally Service. Without the applicant being accepted. These new posts involved a informed of the situation, various transfer and had given him the under- Bundeswehr agencies, including a Re- standable impression that they were cruiting Centre, a selection and induc- connected with his application for re- tion office and the Bundeswehr Insti- enlistment. However, having in the tute of Military Medical Statistics, at- meantime enquired about his applica- tempted to compile the documents to tion for re-enlistment, the soldier first be provided by the Bundeswehr, losing received no reply and then, following a considerable time in the process. All in renewed, written application, a nega- all, the Bundeswehr's own apparatus tive reply. This rejection was in line for recruiting volunteers then took al- with the prevailing order and require- most nine months to invite the poten- ments situation, and could thus not be tial recruit to an aptitude assessment. criticised as such.

Mistake in personnel management However, since the responsible agen- cies also recognised, during review of A staff sergeant had applied not to have the petition, that the soldier's consider- to take part in a civilian basic and ad- able expectations had been encouraged, vanced training measure, since the the application for re-enlistment was training provided there did not reflect accepted after all by way of indemnifi- his duty assignment and additionally cation that can only be welcomed. reduced his later entitlement to ad- vancement through the Vocational Ad- Processing period and processing vancement Service. This application method was rejected on the false assumption that the soldier had missed the dead- The Federal Ministry of Defence was line for an application for exclusion requested to examine and comment on from planning, or re-planning. Only in a petition at the beginning of October the framework of examining the peti- 2011. Confirmation of receipt was not tion was it found that the soldier had received until one month later. In only been informed of the deadline four March 2012, the Ministry reported in months after its expiry, meaning that the framework of an interim communi- the deadline could not have been ex- cation that the petitioner's statement ceeded. Based on a remedial decision, had not been confirmed. In response to it was then possible to grant the re- an enquiry as to the state of the pro- quested exclusion from planning for ceedings in July, the Ministry sent a the training measure after all. two-page concluding letter in early Au- gust, but without enclosing the investi- Rejection of re-enlistment gation records, which the Parliamen- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 75 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______tary Commissioner for the Armed Behaviour of a superior in connection Forces did not receive until October. A with the request to plan a military cou- final assessment by the Parliamentary ple together Commissioner could then still not be given, because the investigation records A military couple was expecting a child related only to part of the petitioner's and attempted to have the wife trans- statement. A statement from the re- ferred to her husband's location. The sponsible operations command regard- serviceman informed his superior of ing a supplementary statement by the this intention, and the latter promised petitioner was still pending by the clos- his support. Personnel Management ing date for this Report. tried to find a suitable post for the ser- vicewoman. While these efforts were in 24.5 Compatibility of family and progress, the superior told the service- service man's personnel manager that he was against continued assignment in the Processing time of an urgent applica- unit or at this location. However, he tion for transfer did not tell the serviceman this when the latter reported that, with a view to A staff sergeant applied for a transfer allocation of a kindergarten place, he close to home as soon as possible, be- wanted to quickly move into a shared cause his mother was gravely ill. The flat with his partner and would be or- superiors showed little understanding ganising the move. After the flat had for his situation. One of the remarks been rented, the serviceman was told made was "he could file 200 applica- by his personnel manager of the inten- tions for a transfer, and none of them tion to transfer him. It ultimately would be approved". The application proved possible to reunify the family in was initially not processed in the unit the area of the servicewoman's location. for two months, from the date of the in- In view of the resultant additional fi- formal request to the time of the formal nancial expenditure and the other out- application. After a further two months, lay incurred by the young family, it the consultant of the Bundeswehr would, however, have been indicated Enlisted Personnel Office acknowl- for the superior or Personnel Manage- edged serious personal reasons and was ment to inform the serviceman in good particularly emphatic in supporting a time about the intention to assign him close-to-home transfer in view of the outside the current location in future. deterioration of the mother's state of health. The staff sergeant, however, was Curtailment of the period of service ow- only informed of this a month later. His ing to a lack of child-care options at the mother had died in the meantime. Fol- envisaged transfer location lowing a renewed application for close- to-home assignment because his father A sergeant who, owing to the nature of had likewise become seriously ill in the his wife's employment, was responsible meantime, a close-to-home secondment for caring for their son, was to be trans- was realised until the start of the enti- ferred to a distant operational unit with tlement to vocational advancement high operational strain in the frame- measures. The unreasonably long time work of the restructuring of the taken to process the application for Bundeswehr. No place for the son in a transfer must be strongly criticised, par- child day-care centre would have been ticularly because it led to consequences available at the envisaged location that that cannot be made good. Disciplinary would have been compatible with the reactions regarding the superior owing duty times there. For lack of other as- to breach of the duty of care would signment options, the only possibility have been indicated. ultimately remaining for the petitioner was to apply for curtailment of his pe- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 76 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______riod of service by six years. This appli- The staff sergeant was relieved of lead- cation was accepted. Until the start of ing the platoon. Punishment of the dis- exemption from military service to ciplinary offence by non-judicial disci- promote scholastic education and voca- plinary action was no longer possible tional training, he was given a close-to- for reasons of time. However, the sol- home assignment by providing a spe- dier was sent to the Leadership Devel- cial-duty post. This case once again opment and Civic Education Centre for clearly illustrates that the structures of remedial training. As an educational service in the Bundeswehr are occa- measure, he had to write a paper and sionally hard to reconcile with the real- was subjected to increased supervision. ity of life in modern partnerships. Delayed payment of parental allowance Criticism of the behaviour of a superior owing to late processing of the applica- on the occasion of a child's birth tion

A non-commissioned officer was taking A soldier applied for parental leave in part in an advanced training measure the framework of the deadlines in the and applied for permission to drive to Parental Leave Ordinance for Military the final examination in his own car, in Personnel. To avoid overpayment, the order to subsequently get as quickly as expected start of the parental leave was possible to the hospital where his wife reported to the responsible Military was expecting their first child. The su- District Administrative Office. The sol- perior sergeant major commented on dier's pay was stopped accordingly at this request by saying "he should be this time. However, owing to process- glad if the child was his", and insisted ing delays, the approved application for that all examinees travel together by parental leave had not been received by bus. The reaction to this inappropriate that time, because the birth certificate comment was merely cautioning of the submitted in time by the soldier to the sergeant major. This was, however, administratively responsible agency criticised as being insufficient by the had not been forwarded to the superior areas and, ultimately, also by Bundeswehr Personnel Office. The sol- the Federal Ministry of Defence, in dier could not apply for parental allow- concurrence with the opinion of the ance and thus had no income. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces. The decision against use 24.6 Sexual encroachments of the private car was likewise to be criticised. The responsible superior Sexual harassment of servicewomen could have complied with the totally understandable wish of the petitioner Two servicewomen complained about by ordering an official trip. being subjected to massive verbal sex- ual harassment by their platoon leader Lack of understanding of superiors that during their general basic training. soldiers rule out participation in the When taking the salute, he asked one of ISAF mission owing to their family the petitioners whether she suffered situation from bodily defragmentation, since she was so inclined to the left. She should Two sergeants failed to comply with weigh her breasts, one must be heavier the call to report for the forthcoming than the other. During inspection of the ISAF mission owing to health problems recruits and examination of the prone of their wives. A staff sergeant com- shelter, he recommended that the peti- mented on this circumstance as fol- tioner dig two holes for her breasts in lows, in front of the whole platoon: view of the imminent rain, so that the "Fulfilment of duty must be ensured, water could also drain away there. even if you have to beat your wives". When the petitioner put a hand on her German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 77 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______stomach during physical training, be- into effect, no longer be called up again cause she felt unwell, he asked: "Are if they had not been awarded a training you pregnant? Well, it's not mine." The and job number as "guard/guard and remark made by the other petitioner, security soldier". that she had two cats, prompted him to reply: "Oh, you have three pussies!". It transpired that the corresponding in- Judicial disciplinary proceedings were structions had only been made known instituted against the soldier. to the recruiting agencies in an Order of the Federal Ministry of Defence dated 1 Physical attacks on, and sexual har- July 2011. Consequently, some selec- assment of, a soldier by a comrade tion and induction offices, and also su- periors, were not able to inform appli- In a petition submitted after leaving the cants about the possible negative con- Bundeswehr, a former basic service sequences of withdrawing from service. conscript described the verbal, physical Since the petitioners were not respon- and sexual attacks of a comrade, to sible for this situation, their request to which he had been exposed during his be reinstated was complied with. Be- basic training. The investigations con- yond this, the Federal Ministry of De- firmed physical attacks. However, since fence took the petitions as an occasion no witnesses were present in most to review whether the regulation is to cases and the accused could not be continue to be applied to applicants questioned, having likewise left the who revoke their formal obligation as Bundeswehr in the meantime, the temporary-career volunteer within the scope and intensity of the incidents probationary period. could not be proven to the extent de- scribed by the petitioner. On the one Delayed handover of a dangerous- hand, the fear that occasioned the peti- goods driving licence tioner not to reveal his story until after finishing his time in the Bundeswehr is A former military service volunteer of a understandable. On the other hand, the logistics battalion who served as a case also shows that fear of this kind transport soldier had, in the framework leads to the situation where conduct of of his billet training, successfully taken this kind cannot be investigated in time part in the theoretical "advanced train- and ultimately goes unpunished. ing course for the transport of hazard- ous materials in tanks" and in subse- 24.7 Voluntary military service quent practical training with testing on a road tanker. He complained that, de- Reinstatement in voluntary military spite multiple enquiries, his unit had service not handed over his dangerous-goods driving licence ("ADR Driver Training Several petitioners complained about Certificate"). As a result, he had not problems with being reinstated in vol- been able to work as a driver in the untary military service if they had pre- transport platoon and was – after retir- viously terminated their service as mili- ing from the Bundeswehr – now at a tary service volunteer or temporary- disadvantage when looking for a job as career volunteer at their own request a dangerous-goods driver. The failure of during the probationary period, be- the responsible unit to hand over the cause this appeared expedient for their ADR Driver Training Certificate on time personal life planning. Although they deserved criticism. One of the causes had been assured before leaving the was found to be that the head of the re- Bundeswehr that reinstatement was sponsible hazardous-materials training possible, applicants already serving in centre had rarely been at work for rea- the past could, in accordance with the sons of illness and in the framework of new instructions that had since come training in preparation for a mission. It German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 78 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______must nonetheless be ensured that cer- leave, messing allowance, pay and the tificates of this kind are handed over to reintegration seminar. Since the new soldiers in good time. The responsible draft notice and baggage tags for the battalion commander had the corre- new country of deployment, Afghani- sponding personnel cautioned regard- stan, had already arrived when she re- ing the correct preparation and hand- turned from Kosovo, she made all the over of documents. necessary preparations and sent her baggage to Afghanistan. One week be- Subsequent preparation of a testimo- fore the planned outward flight, she nial was informed by telephone that she could not go on the mission because of An applicant for reinstatement in the preparatory training courses that first Bundeswehr had lost the testimonial as needed to be completed. Based on the a military service volunteer that was petitioner's existing mission experi- needed for reinstatement. It was also no ence, a shorter training period would longer to be found at the responsible se- have sufficed. However, the documen- lection and induction office. tary evidence necessary for the applica- tion for exemption was not available, Up to now, the personnel records have meaning that she had to be excluded been sent to the responsible selection from planning. This could have been and induction office following retire- avoided if her attention had been ment from the Bundeswehr, where they drawn in good time to the need to sub- have then remained. Apparently, in the mit this documentary evidence. The petitioner's case, no copy of the testi- Bundeswehr took this incident as an monial had been enclosed with the per- occasion to instruct the responsible sonnel records. Although an enquiry at parties to optimise information man- the Recruiting Centre responsible for agement between all concerned, par- reinstatement revealed that the peti- ticularly in instances where time is tioner would not suffer any disadvan- critical. The petitioner received com- tage in the recruitment procedure be- pensation for the loss sustained by her cause of the testimonial being missing, as a result of premature termination of he also wanted to use the testimonial the KFOR mission. Moreover, she was for civilian job applications. In the con- included in the planning for the ISAF text of processing the petition, the re- mission at a later time. sponsible operations command was therefore requested to examine whether 24.9 Medical Service and welfare it would be possible to have the testi- monial prepared by a former superior Assumption of the costs for journeys to in retrospect. This suggestion was ac- the unit physician cepted. Soldiers complained in several cases 24.8 Reservists about rejection of the reimbursement of costs for journeys to appointments with Exclusion from planning for the Af- and/or treatment by the unit physician ghanistan mission at short notice when official transport was not possi- ble. This rejection was in keeping with A female reservist, who was assigned as the valid legal situation. In the frame- a kitchen accountant and had already work of free medical care, soldiers are been on missions abroad several times, only entitled to reimbursement of the was asked during her mission abroad in costs for journeys to private doctors Kosovo whether she would prema- and institutions, if they are occasioned turely terminate this mission and then officially and a corresponding certifi- immediately go to Afghanistan for four cate is issued, but not for journeys to months. She thereupon waived her appointments with a unit physician. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 79 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

tion of the barred donors, and to im- Inadequate examination prove the medical documentation of blood donations. A petitioner complained that, during an examination for fitness for parachuting Claim to compensation due to incorrect and foreign assignment, the responsible medical treatment doctor had failed to follow up signs of a possible thyroid illness of the peti- The existential plight of a former sol- tioner and that he had suffered career dier occasioned the Parliamentary disadvantages as a result. This state- Commissioner for the Armed Forces to ment was confirmed. The soldier did champion his cause in the top echelons indeed suffer from hyperthyroidism of the Federal Ministry of Defence. that had to be treated surgically. The Having become ill while a soldier, the soldier was accepted as a career soldier petitioner suffered permanent damage after the operation. Had the doctor fol- to his health during external clinical lowed up the signs at the aforemen- treatment occasioned by the tioned examination, the soldier could Bundeswehr, making it impossible for have been treated immediately and him to continue the career he had be- probably accepted as a career soldier a gun in the Bundeswehr. He had to fi- year earlier. Based on this incident, a nance the necessary professional reori- procedure was installed that is in- entation without state benefits, mean- tended to ensure the consideration and ing that he got into financial straits. A evaluation of laboratory findings in fu- legal review revealed that the petitioner ture. could not successfully raise claims for compensation for pain and suffering, or Failure to inform a barred blood donor for damages, either against the hospi- tals and doctors treating him or against A soldier donated blood in the frame- the Federation because of the treatment work of a blood donation campaign in occasioned by the Bundeswehr, as November 2009. In January 2010, com- there were no indications of intent on plications possibly attributable to the the part of the attending physicians. transfusion occurred in a patient who However, had he made private claims had received, among other things, an on the hospitals and doctors, the peti- erythrocyte concentrate from the tioner would have had better prospects aforementioned donor, the result being of successful enforcement of his claims that the soldier was barred from donat- because, according to existing expert ing further blood, and the taking of a opinions, medical malpractice had con- blood sample for testing was ordered. tributed to the damage to the peti- The soldier was not informed of this, tioner's health. The outcome of this nor was a blood sample taken for test- case – no rights of recourse – is not sat- ing. The soldier donated blood once isfactory. Since the soldier had no again in the following period. Not until claims whatsoever to compensation, August 2010 was he informed about the the counsellors at the Bundeswehr So- bar. The reason for the late notification cial Services referred him to the "Trust of the soldier was a data processing Foundation for the Support of Hardship problem when updating the file of Cases in the Bundeswehr and the for- barred donors, as well as the missing mer National People's Army". It is to be documentation on the soldier's health hoped that his application for support card. In response to the incident, orders will be successful there. were given to improve quality man- agement in connection with blood do- Special foreign assignments benefits nation campaigns, to instruct blood do- and continued employment of a person nation groups regarding how to deal injured on operations with barred donors, to ensure informa- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 80 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

While driving a Bundeswehr bus, a tributed to the fact that the petitioner soldier was traumatised in a bomb at- had been unable to establish a suffi- tack in Afghanistan in June 2003 and ciently confident relationship with the has since been suffering from a severe expert and had therefore not been able post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). to be completely open with him. More- For the purpose of health-related and over, no detailed findings were avail- vocational rehabilitation, the former re- able from the attending physician. servist was given the service status of a Based on a stressful event named by the temporary-career volunteer in the petitioner and verified in the opposi- framework of an exceptional decision. tion proceedings, and the detailed find- Since his service status as a temporary- ings of the attending psychiatrist which career volunteer ended during the pro- were then available, as well as an addi- tection time he had applied for under tional assessment requested from the the Act on the Continued Employment petitioner's attending unit physician, of Personnel Injured on Operations, he the Bundeswehr Medical Office arrived entered into a special service status. He at the recognition of a PTSD with a de- thus continued to be entitled to pay- gree of impairment of 30 percent in its ment as a temporary-career volunteer. expert statement. In view of the un- In the framework of service-related dis- equivocal statement by the Medical Of- ability proceedings, which had been in fice, the Military District Administra- progress since 2006, the petitioner re- tive Office waived the renewed sup- peatedly applied for recognition of a plementary expert report it had initially deterioration of the PTSD caused by the demanded and fell in with the assess- attack. In April 2012, following several ment. This made it possible to acceler- specialist medical and pension-related ate the opposition proceedings and assessments, the responsible Military remedy the petitioner's objection. District Administrative Office recog- nised a PTSD with a degree of impair- 24.10 Accommodation ment of 60 percent. The damage to health was rated as a deployment- Unreliable heating system related accident under pension law. Based on the special foreign assign- A training course participant com- ments benefits he applied for, he was plained that, in winter, the heating sys- granted the statutorily defined one-time tem in the lecture theatres and the ac- compensation payment in October commodation regularly broke down 2012. No decision has yet been reached and the temperature sometimes regarding his application for continued dropped to as little as 10 degrees, be- employment. cause there were significant delays in elimination of the defects by the re- Recognition of a service-related disabil- sponsible Bundeswehr Service Centre. ity due to PTSD The installation of fan heaters, at least in the lecture theatres, had been re- A soldier complained about the rejec- jected because of the risk of overload- tion of his application for recognition ing the system. The Federal Ministry of of a service-related disability owing to a Defence confirmed the repeated prob- PTSD that developed after several mis- lems with the heating system, stating sions abroad, and also about the dura- that a specialist company had in the tion of the opposition proceedings. The meantime been commissioned with investigations revealed that the neuro- eliminating the problem and that, in logical-psychiatric expert opinion on view of the wintry weather, the daily which the negative decision of the Mili- presence of a member of the technical tary District Administrative Office was staff of the Bundeswehr Service Centre based did not document the full extent on the site had been ordered, so as to be of the petitioner's illness. This was at- able to react immediately to break- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 81 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______downs of the heating system. It would infection because of the deficiencies appear that only the petition led to an could not be ruled out, it was medically appropriate reaction to the unaccept- quite unlikely in view of the transmis- able conditions caused by the regular sion routes of the Helicobacter bacte- failure of the heating system. rium. Consistent supervision would have made it possible to eliminate the Missing cleaning agents previously ascertained deficiencies with only little effort. A servicewoman undergoing general basic training complained about serious Unlawful ejection from accommodation hygiene problems in the sanitary facili- ties and the accommodation at her loca- A servicewoman working at a tion, reporting that insufficient clean- Bundeswehr hospital complained that ing agents were provided. The soldiers the hospital sergeant had called upon had to make do with old, worn-out her to leave her accommodation, al- cleaning cloths that they had to use though she was obliged to live in the both for their rooms and for the toilets. communal accommodation, being un- She herself had already contracted an der the age of 25. She said that she felt infection with the Helicobacter gastric forced to sign a rental agreement as a bacterium as a result. The statement re- result of his behaviour. Similar pres- quested from the Federal Ministry of sure was also applied to other soldiers. Defence essentially confirmed the defi- As indicated in the statement by the ciencies, these being attributable to the Federal Ministry of Defence, the wrong- fact that the supply sergeant had re- ful ejection of the petitioner from the quested the cleaning agents too late and accommodation in the barracks has that the responsible Bundeswehr Ser- since been retracted. The commander vice Centre provided too little of the of the Bundeswehr hospital gave the materials requested. The head of the hospital sergeant a written caution re- medical clinic was instructed to draw garding the careful examination of files. up proposals for hygienic prevention for the units in the sphere of the garri- son surgeon. Although the petitioner's Hellmut Königshaus suspicion that she had contracted an

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25 Appendices Article 45b

25.1 Statutory foundations of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces office and tasks of the Parlia- mentary Commissioner for the A Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces and of service Armed Forces shall be appointed to safe- guard basic rights and to assist the personnel's right of petition Bundestag in exercising parliamentary oversight of the Armed Forces. Details shall Page Excerpt from the Basic Law for the be regulated by a federal law. Federal Republic of Germany of 23 May 1949 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1), last amended by the Act of 11 July 2012 (Federal Law Ga- zette I, p. 1478)

Article 17

Right of petition

Every person shall have the right indi- vidually or jointly with others to address written requests or complaints to compe- tent authorities and to the legislature.

Article 17a

Restriction of basic rights in specific instances

(1) Laws regarding military and alter- native service may provide that the basic right of members of the Armed Forces and of alternative service freely to express and disseminate their opinions in speech, writ- ing and pictures (first clause of paragraph (1) of Article 5), the basic right of assembly (Article 8), and the right of petition (Article 17) insofar as it permits the submission of requests or complaints jointly with others, be restricted during their period of military or alternative service.

(2) Laws regarding defence, including protection of the civilian population, may provide for restriction of the basic rights of freedom of movement (Article 11) and in- violability of the home (Article 13).

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Act on the Parliamentary Commis- (3) When the Commissioner acts upon sioner for the Armed Forces (enacted instructions, he or she shall, upon request, pursuant to Article 45b of the Basic submit an individual report on the results Law – WBeauftrG) in the version of the of his or her investigation. Announcement of 16 June 1992 (Fed- Section 3 eral Law Gazette I, p. 677), last

amended by Article 15 Para. 68 of the Official Powers Act to Restructure Civil Service Law of 5 February 2009 (Federal Law Gazette In performing the tasks assigned to I, p. 160) him or her, the Commissioner shall have the following powers: Section 1 1. He or she may demand information Constitutional Status; Tasks and access to records from the Federal Minister of Defence and all the Minis- (1) In the exercise of parliamentary ter's subordinate agencies and person- oversight, the Commissioner shall perform nel. These rights can only be denied to his or her duties as an auxiliary organ of him or her when this is required for the Bundestag. compelling reasons of secrecy. The de- cision to deny these rights shall be (2) The Commissioner shall investigate taken by the Minister of Defence per- specific matters upon instructions from the sonally or his or her permanent official Bundestag or the Defence Committee. In- deputy; the Minister of Defence shall structions can only be issued if the Defence state the reasons for any such decision Committee does not make the matter a sub- before the Defence Committee. On the ject of its own deliberations. The Commis- basis of instructions pursuant to Sec- sioner may request that the Defence Com- tion 1(2) and in the case of a petition mittee issue instructions to investigate spe- based on a complaint by the petitioner, cific matters. the Commissioner shall have the right to hear the petitioner as well as wit- (3) The Commissioner shall, on his or nesses and experts. These persons her own initiative and at his or her due dis- shall be reimbursed pursuant to the cretion, take action when, in the exercise of Judicial Remuneration and Compensa- his right pursuant to Section 3(4), through tion Act. information received from Members of the Bundestag, through petitions pursuant to 2. He or she may give the agencies con- Section 7 or in any other way, circum- cerned the opportunity to settle a mat- stances come to his or her attention that ter. suggest a violation of the basic rights of service personnel or of the principles of In- 3. He or she may refer a matter to the au- nere Führung. The Commissioner shall not thority competent for the institution of take action under the first sentence of this criminal or disciplinary proceedings. paragraph if the Defence Committee has made the matter the subject of its own de- 4. He or she may, at any time, visit any liberations. units, headquarters, agencies and au- thorities of the Federal Armed Forces, Section 2 and their installations even without prior announcement. This right shall Reporting Duties be vested exclusively in the person of the Commissioner. The second and (1) The Commissioner shall submit to third sentences of paragraph (1) of this the Bundestag a written overall report for section shall apply mutatis mutandis. the calendar year (annual report). 5. He or she may request both summary (2) He or she may, at any time, submit reports from the Federal Minister of individual reports to the Bundestag or the Defence on the exercise of disciplinary Defence Committee. power in the armed forces and statisti- cal reports from the competent federal German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 84 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

and Land authorities on the admini- Service Personnel's Right of Petition stration of criminal justice whenever the armed forces or their service per- Every member of the armed forces sonnel are affected. shall have the right to contact the Commis- sioner directly without going through offi- 6. In the case of criminal or disciplinary cial channels. He or she shall not be disci- proceedings, he or she may attend plined or discriminated against because of court proceedings even when the pub- his or her petition to the Commissioner. lic is excluded. He or she shall be given access to records to the same ex- Section 8 tent as the public prosecutor or the representative of the initiating author- Anonymous Petitions ity. The right pursuant to the first sen- tence of this paragraph shall also apply Anonymous petitions shall not be in matters of request and complaint dealt with. proceedings under the Military Disci- plinary Code and the Military Com- Section 9 plaints Regulations before courts that have jurisdiction over military disci- Confidentiality of Petitions plinary offences and in proceedings before administrative courts that relate Where the Commissioner takes action to his or her area of responsibility; in in response to a petition, it shall be left to such proceedings, he or she shall have his or her discretion to disclose the fact of a the same right of access to records as a petition and the name of the petitioner. He party to the proceedings. or she shall refrain from their disclosure if the petitioner so wishes and compliance Section 4 with this wish is not barred by legal duties.

Administrative Assistance Section 10

Courts and administrative authorities Obligation of Secrecy of the Federation, the Länder and the mu- nicipalities shall be obliged to render the (1) The Commissioner is obliged, even Commissioner administrative assistance in once his or her term of office has ended, to the conduct of necessary investigations. maintain secrecy regarding matters that have come to his official knowledge. This Section 5 does not apply to official communications or to matters that are known to the general General Guidelines; Exemption from In- public or that do not require secrecy (in structions view of the level of importance accorded to them). (1) The Bundestag and the Defence Committee may issue general guidelines for (2) The Commissioner shall not, even the work of the Commissioner. once his or her term of office has ended, give any evidence on such matters before a (2) Notwithstanding Section 1(2), the court or out of court, or make statements Commissioner shall not be subject to in- without permission. This permission shall structions. be given by the President of the Bundestag in agreement with the Defence Committee. Section 6 (3) Permission to give evidence as a Obligation of Presence witness shall not be denied unless it would be to the detriment of the public good of The Bundestag and the Defence Com- the Federation or of one of the German mittee may at any time demand the pres- Länder, or it would severely jeopardise or ence of the Commissioner. considerably impede the performance of public duties. Section 7 (4) This shall not affect the statutory German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 85 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______obligation to report criminal offences and member of a government or a legislative to advocate the preservation of the free de- body of the Federation or a Land. mocratic basic order where it is jeopard- ised. (4) On assuming office, the Commis- sioner shall take the oath of office as laid Section 11 down in Article 56 of the Basic Law.

(repealed) (5) For the duration of his term of of- fice, the Commissioner shall be exempt Section 12 from military service.

Obligation of Federal and Land Authori- Section 15 ties to Inform the Commissioner Legal Status of the Commissioner; Begin- The judicial and administrative au- ning and End of Term of Office thorities of the Federation and the Länder shall be obliged to inform the Commis- (1) Pursuant to the provisions of this sioner about the institution of proceedings, Act, the Commissioner holds an office un- the preferment of a public charge, any in- der public law. The President of the vestigations ordered in disciplinary pro- Bundestag shall appoint the person elected. ceedings and the outcome of such proceed- ings, when the matter has been referred to (2) The Commissioner's term of office one of these authorities by the Commis- shall begin when his or her letter of ap- sioner. pointment is handed over or, should the oath be taken at an earlier date (Section Section 13 14(4)), at the time when the oath is taken.

Election of the Commissioner (3) The Commissioner's term of office shall end, apart from the termination of his The Bundestag shall elect the Commis- or her tenure pursuant to Section 14(2) or sioner by secret ballot with a majority of its through death, Members. Candidates may be put forward by the Defence Committee, by the parlia- 1. upon his or her dismissal, mentary groups and by as many Members 2. upon his or her resignation. of the Bundestag as are required for the formation of a parliamentary group pursu- (4) Upon the request of the Defence ant to the Rules of Procedure. No debate Committee, the Bundestag may instruct its shall take place. President to dismiss the Commissioner. This decision shall require the approval of Section 14 the majority of the Members of the Bundestag. Eligibility; Term of Office; Ban on Practice of another Profession; Oath; Exemption (5) The Commissioner may resign at from Military Service any time. The President of the Bundestag shall announce the resignation. (1) Every German who is entitled to be elected to the Bundestag and has attained Section 16 the age of 35 shall be eligible for the office of Commissioner. Seat of the Commissioner; Chief Adminis- trator; Staff; Budget (2) The term of office of the Commis- sioner shall be five years. Re-election shall (1) The seat of the Commissioner shall be admissible. be attached to the Bundestag.

(3) The Commissioner may not hold (2) The Commissioner shall be sup- any other salaried office, engage in any ported by a Chief Administrator. Addi- trade, practise any profession, belong to the tional personnel shall assist the Commis- management or the supervisory board of sioner in the execution of his or her duties. any enterprise carried on for profit, or be a The civil servants attached to the Commis- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 86 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______sioner shall be civil servants of the tis mutandis with the proviso that, instead Bundestag pursuant to Section 176 of the of a two-year term of office (Section 15(1) of Act on Federal Civil Servants of 3 January the Federal Ministers Act), a five-year term 1977 (Federal Law Gazette I, pp. 1, 795, shall apply. The first sentence of this para- 842), most recently amended by Section 27 graph shall apply mutatis mutandis to a ca- of the Act of 26 June 1981 (Federal Law Ga- reer soldier or temporary-career volunteer zette I, p. 553). The Commissioner shall be who has been appointed Commissioner the superior of the personnel assigned to with the proviso that, in the case of tempo- him or her. rary-career volunteers where Section 18(2) of the Federal Ministers Act applies, the (3) The necessary personnel and date of retirement shall be replaced by the equipment made available to the Commis- termination of service. sioner for the performance of his or her functions shall be detailed in a separate (3) The provisions of the Federal chapter of the Bundestag budget. Travel Expenses Act as published in the Notification of 13 November 1973 (Federal Section 17 Law Gazette I, p. 1621), most recently amended by the Ordinance of 31 May 1979 Representation of the Commissioner (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 618), regarding the highest travel expense category, and the (1) If the Commissioner is prevented provisions of the Federal Removal Ex- from performing his functions, and from penses Act of 13 November 1973 (Federal the end of his term of office to the begin- Law Gazette I, p. 1628), most recently ning of the term of office of his successor, amended by Article VII of the Act of 20 De- the Chief Administrator shall exercise the cember 1974 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. rights of the Commissioner except for the 3716), regarding removals necessary as a right pursuant to Section 3(4). Section 5(2) result of appointment or termination of of- shall apply mutatis mutandis. fice, shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(2) If the Commissioner is prevented Section 19 from exercising his or her office for more than three months, or when more than (repealed) three months have elapsed after the end of the Commissioner's term of office without Section 20 the term of office of a successor having commenced, the Defence Committee may (Entry into Force) authorise the Chief Administrator to exer- cise the right pursuant to Section 3(4).

Section 18

Official Emoluments; Other Payments

(1) From the beginning of the calendar month in which he or she takes office to the end of the calendar month in which his or her term of office ends, the Commissioner shall be paid official emoluments. Section 11(1)(a) and (b) of the Federal Ministers Act shall apply mutatis mutandis with the pro- viso that the Commissioner's salary and lo- cal allowance shall be 75 per cent of the salary and local allowance of a Federal Minister. The emoluments shall be paid monthly in advance.

(2) In all other respects, Section 11(2) and (4), and Sections 13 to 20 and 21a of the Federal Ministers Act shall apply muta- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 87 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Excerpt from the Rules of Procedure of mand that they be placed on the agenda. the German Bundestag in the version of the Announcement of 2 July 1980 (2) The Defence Committee shall report (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1237), last to the Bundestag. amended by the Announcement of 7 Rule 115 May 2012 (Federal Law Gazette I, p.

1119 f.) Debates on reports of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces

Rule 113 (1) The President shall grant leave to speak to the Parliamentary Commissioner Election of the Parliamentary Commis- for the Armed Forces in the debate on re- sioner for the Armed Forces ports submitted by the Commissioner if a parliamentary group so demands or five per The Parliamentary Commissioner for cent of the Members of the Bundestag, who the Armed Forces shall be elected by secret shall be present, so demand. ballot (Rule 49). (2) Upon the demand of a parliamen- Rule 114 tary group or the demand of five per cent of the Members of the Bundestag, who shall Reports of the Parliamentary Commis- be present, the Parliamentary Commis- sioner for the Armed Forces sioner for the Armed Forces shall be sum- moned to attend sittings of the Bundestag; (1) The President shall refer the reports paragraph (1) shall apply mutatis mutandis. of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces to the Defence Committee unless a parliamentary group or five per cent of the Members of the Bundestag de- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 88 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Procedural principles for cooperation between the Petitions Committee and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of the German Bundestag

1. The Petitions Committee shall notify the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of a petition if it relates to service personnel of the Bundeswehr. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces shall inform the Petitions Committee whether he has opened a case file in the same matter and whether he will be taking action.

2. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces shall notify the Petitions Commit- tee of a case if the Petitions Committee has recognisably received a petition in the same matter.

3. If the Petitions Committee and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces both deal with the same matter, the case shall generally first be processed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces. If the Petitions Committee takes action, it shall notify the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of such. The Parliamentary Com- missioner for the Armed Forces and the Petitions Committee shall regularly notify each other in writing of the progress of processing and its outcome.

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25.2 Order: 'Service Personnel and the Parliamentary Commis- In carrying out the tasks assigned to him or sioner' her, the Parliamentary Commissioner shall have the following powers: - Revised Version - No. 7, Federal Ministry of Defence, a) He or she may demand information Fü S I 3, of 20.12.2011 and access to records from all agencies and personnel subordinate to the Fed- A. eral Ministry of Defence. He or she may be denied this right only on com- Constitutional status of the Parliamentary pelling grounds of secrecy. Commissioner for the Armed Forces b) If instructed by the Bundestag or the 1. Defence Committee to investigate a certain matter, and in the case of peti- The German Bundestag shall appoint the tions based on a complaint, he or she Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed may hear the petitioner as well as ex- Forces as an auxiliary organ in exercising perts and witnesses. oversight of the armed forces. His or her tasks shall be to protect the basic rights of c) He or she may, at any time, visit any service personnel and to monitor compli- units, headquarters, agencies and au- ance with the principles of Innere Führung. thorities of the Federal Armed Forces and their installations, even without Upon instructions from the Bundestag or prior notice. The right to make such the Defence Committee, the Parliamentary visits shall be vested exclusively in the Commissioner may also investigate matters person of the Parliamentary Commis- that serve neither the protection of basic sioner. The Chief Administrator shall rights nor the monitoring of compliance also exercise this right if authorised to with the principles of Innere Führung. De- do so by the Defence Committee. This tails shall be regulated by the Act on the right may only be denied on compel- Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed ling grounds of secrecy. Forces (enacted pursuant to Article 45b of the Basic Law) as published in the Notifica- d) He or she may attend proceedings of tion of 16 June 1982 (Federal Law Gazette I, criminal courts, administrative courts p. 677 and Federal Ministry of Defence Ga- and military service courts that are zette, p. 193), which entered into force on concerned with his area of activity, 24 June 1982. even if they are not open to the public; in such cases, he or she has the same B. right of access to records as the parties involved in the proceedings. Tasks and powers of the Parliamentary Commissioner e) He or she may give the agencies con- cerned an opportunity to settle the 2. matter.

The Parliamentary Commissioner shall take f) He or she may refer a matter to the au- action: thority responsible for the institution of criminal or disciplinary proceed- - upon instructions from the Bundestag ings. or the Defence Committee to examine certain matters; With the exception of the right to make un- - on his or her own initiative and at his announced visits pursuant to Section 3(c), or her due discretion if matters come the powers of the Parliamentary Commis- to his or her attention that suggest a sioner may be exercised by his or her staff. violation of the basic rights of service Fact-finding visits by his or her staff shall personnel or of the principles of Innere be announced in advance. Führung. C. 3. German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 90 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Procedural arrangements fied shall be remedied.

4. c) If higher superiors are asked to com- ment, they shall arrange for the matter Matters relating to the Parliamentary Com- in question to be examined and shall missioner shall be dealt with as matters of convey the findings, together with urgency. Should an extended period of their own comments, to the Parliamen- time be required to deal with such matters, tary Commissioner. the Parliamentary Commissioner shall be informed of progress at regular intervals by d) Command headquarters from division- the agencies responsible for commenting on level upwards and corresponding the matter. agencies shall, in the case of matters of fundamental or far-reaching impor- Should, in the case of requests by the Par- tance, submit their comments to the liamentary Commissioner for information Federal Ministry of Defence, together or access to records, doubts arise as to: with the principal records compiled, through official channels once they - whether the matter in question sug- have been dispatched. gests a violation of basic rights or the principles of Innere Führung, or e) Furthermore, once they have been dis- whether instructions have been issued patched, all the comments made by by the Bundestag or the Defence agencies of the Federal Armed Forces Committee; shall be submitted to the Federal Min- istry of Defence, together with the - whether compelling reasons of secrecy main records compiled, through offi- stand in the way of compliance with cial channels, if: his requests; - the matter is of political or public or should, in the case of a visit by the Par- significance or liamentary Commissioner, doubts arise as to: - disciplinary or criminal proceed- ings have been or are to be initi- - whether compelling reasons of secrecy ated in the given case. stand in the way of the visit; f) Insofar as service personnel release a decision of the Federal Ministry of De- doctors or medical experts from their fence shall be sought immediately. The Par- duty to observe confidentiality in con- liamentary Commissioner shall be informed nection with petitions submitted by of this decision. the personnel to the Parliamentary Commissioner, this shall in case of 5. doubt apply exclusively to comments made directly by them to the Parlia- The following arrangements shall apply for mentary Commissioner. dealing with requests submitted by the Par- liamentary Commissioner: Copies of these comments, as well as annexes to them, which shall be sub- a) If the Parliamentary Commissioner mitted to other authorities, including writes to service personnel of the Fed- the Federal Ministry of Defence, eral Armed Forces personally, the lat- should therefore as a rule contain no ter shall respond themselves. facts or opinions that are subject to medical confidentiality. b) If the Parliamentary Commissioner contacts an agency, the head of the If need be, comments to be submitted agency shall be responsible for re- to the Parliamentary Commissioner sponding to the request; he or she shall should be drafted in such a way that sign the final comments himself. The statements subject to medical confi- investigations shall be conducted by dentiality are contained in a separate the disciplinary superior responsible annex and conveyed directly to the in each case. Any deficiencies identi- Parliamentary Commissioner alone to- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 91 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

gether with the original copy of the let- lating to the SUV (Joint Service Regulation ter. 14/5 F 511). g) With regard to petitions, their contents Insofar as subjects are dealt with at the and the comments upon them, all con- hearing that are subject to confidentiality, cerned shall have a duty to observe the person being heard may give evidence confidentiality in accordance with Sec- on matters up to classification level 're- tion 14 of the Legal Status of Military stricted' (VS-NfD). In the case of matters Personnel Act1 insofar as this does not with a higher security classification, the concern the direct processing of peti- Parliamentary Commissioner must obtain tions. The case may only be used for permission for the person in question to instruction purposes once the proce- give evidence from the latter's disciplinary dure has been completed. The names superior. of those involved may not be divulged. If the competent disciplinary superior can- The procedure shall as a rule be not grant permission, he or she shall re- deemed to have been completed if quest a decision by his or her superior. The within two months of submitting a re- right to deny permission shall rest ulti- port no reply is received from the Par- mately with the Federal Ministry of De- liamentary Commissioner. If the Par- fence. liamentary Commissioner provides no- tification that the procedure has been The persons heard shall be reimbursed in completed, this as well as the findings accordance with the Act on Compensation of his or her examination shall be of Witnesses and Experts (as published in made known to the agencies involved the Notification of 1 October 1969 (Federal and to those persons affected by the Law Gazette I, p. 1756), most recently petition. amended by Article 11 of the Act of 26 No- vember 1979 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. h) As a matter of principle, petitions 1953 and 1980, p. 137)). Witnesses shall transmitted by the Parliamentary file their requests for reimbursement with Commissioner to agencies with a re- the Parliamentary Commissioner within quest for their comments may not be three months after the hearing; experts construed as constituting complaints shall do so within the time limit set by the within the meaning of the Military Parliamentary Commissioner. 2 Complaints Regulations , unless the 7. petitioner expressly so requests. If the matter dealt with in a petition to the 6. Parliamentary Commissioner is also the subject of a complaint lodged in accordance If the Parliamentary Commissioner exer- with the Military Complaints Regulations cises his or her right to hear petitioners, or the Military Disciplinary Code4, the fol- experts and witnesses (Section 3(b)), he or she shall be given every support in doing lowing shall apply: so. The Parliamentary Commissioner shall advise the petitioners, experts or witnesses a) If a member of the Armed Forces as to their rights at the hearing; there shall lodges a complaint in accordance with be no obligation to give evidence. If neces- the Military Complaints Regulations, sary, service personnel shall be granted ex- including a disciplinary complaint emption from duty or special leave to at- pursuant to Section 38 of these regula- tend the hearing in accordance with Sec- tions, and submits a petition in the tion 9 of the Leave Regulations for Service same matter to the Parliamentary 3 Commissioner, the Parliamentary Personnel (SUV) , in conjunction with Sec- Commissioner shall be informed of the tion 72 of the implementing provisions re- current status and progress of the measures taken to deal with the com- 1 Federal Ministry of Defence Gazette 2001, p. 72 plaint. A copy of the decision shall be 2 Not published in the Federal Ministry of Defence Ga- zette 3 Federal Ministry of Defence Gazette 1997, p. 286 4 Federal Ministry of Defence Gazette 1973, p. 7 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 92 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

conveyed to him or her immediately. or a request in accordance with the He or she shall be informed separately Military Complaints Regulations or the of any recourse to legal remedies or of Military Disciplinary Code, the time the non-appealability of a ruling. limits stipulated therein shall be deemed to have been observed only if b) If the petition submitted to the Parlia- the petition is received by the agency mentary Commissioner by a member of responsible for the receipt of com- the armed forces also refers to matters plaints and requests within the given that are not a subject of the complaint, time limit. this part of the petition shall be dealt with in the same way as other peti- 9. tions. The Federal Ministry of Defence shall be c) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall informed by fax of any field visits to be be informed if disciplinary investiga- made by the Parliamentary Commissioner tions are initiated as a result of the on special grounds (e.g. in connection with submission of a petition to the Parlia- special incidents, or if several identical or mentary Commissioner. On comple- similar petitions are submitted concerning tion of the investigations, he or she the same unit). Such notifications shall take shall be informed of the findings. In the following form: the case of proceedings before a disci- plinary court, he or she shall also be Address: informed of any significant interim rul- ings. Federal Ministry of Defence – Fü S I 3

8. Copy to: Staff of the service or organisa- tional area concerned With regard to the processing of cases that are referred by the Parliamentary Commis- (Fü H I 1, Fü L I 2, Fü M I 1, Fü San Pers Z, sioner to agencies of the Federal Armed Fü S I 3) Forces with a request for them to deal with these cases on their own responsibility, the Re: field visit by the Parliamentary Com- following shall apply: missioner on special grounds - date and time, a) If the case involves action against a - unit, member of the armed forces, it shall be - location and living quarters, referred to his or her immediate disci- - reason. plinary superior. Other cases shall be referred to the agency responsible for D. assessing their content. Notification of service personnel b) The agency specified in Section 8(a) shall notify the person who made the 10. submission of any decision through of- ficial channels. The decision may be All service personnel shall be informed disclosed orally by the disciplinary about the tasks and powers of the Parlia- superior of the person who made the mentary Commissioner by their discipli- submission. The Parliamentary Com- nary superior at the beginning of their basic missioner shall be informed of the way training and again following their transfer in which the matter has been dealt to their units. They must be informed of the with. following in particular: c) A petition to the Parliamentary Com- a) All service personnel have the right to missioner shall not be a substitute for submit petitions to the Parliamentary legal remedies pursuant to the Military Commissioner directly without having Complaints Regulations and the Mili- to go through official channels. tary Disciplinary Code. Even if a peti- tion to the Parliamentary Commis- Petitions/letters from members of the sioner is to be regarded as a complaint Federal Armed Forces to the Parlia- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 93 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

mentary Commissioner for the Armed mentary Commissioner. Nor may facts Forces of the German Bundestag shall with security classifications higher also be carried by the internal postal than 'restricted' be included in peti- service, they may be posted in the tions to the Parliamentary Commis- unit/agency. sioner. If the petitioner is of the opin- ion that the Parliamentary Commis- The address of the Parliamentary sioner should be made aware of such Commissioner is: circumstances, he or she may bring them to the Commissioner's attention. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of the German E. Bundestag, Platz der Republik 1, Final remarks 11011 Berlin. 11. In accordance with Section 230 of Joint Service Regulation 10/5, 'Life in All superiors are expected to cooperate the military community', the address with the Parliamentary Commissioner in a shall be displayed on the unit/agency spirit of mutual trust and thus to enable information board. him or her to gather any information he or she requires quickly and thoroughly. b) Service personnel may only submit individual petitions to the Parliamen- This can help to foster service personnel's tary Commissioner. understanding of our country's constitu- tional and legal system, as well as their c) Anonymous petitions shall not be confidence in democracy and in the Fed- dealt with (Section 8 of the Act on the eral Armed Forces. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces). 12. d) If, before submitting their petitions, All disciplinary superiors are called upon service personnel contact their disci- to report on their experiences through offi- plinary superiors, they shall receive cial channels to the Federal Ministry of De- advice and assistance. It shall be con- fence. sidered a disciplinary offence and a punishable act pursuant to Section 35 13. of the Military Penal Code if superiors seek by means of orders, threats, prom- The Order: 'Service Personnel and the Par- ises or gifts, or in any other way that liamentary Commissioner' in the version runs counter to service regulations, to published in the Federal Ministry of De- persuade a subordinate not to submit a fence Gazette, 1984, p. 59, is hereby re- petition or to suppress petitions. Any scinded. attempt to do so shall also be punish- able and may be deemed to constitute Federal Ministry of Defence, 28 May 2001 a disciplinary offence. Fü S I 3 – Ref. 39-20-00 e) Service personnel may not be disad- vantaged in any way for submitting pe- titions to the Parliamentary Commis- sioner. If a petition contains insults or libellous remarks, for example, this may be punishable as a disciplinary of- fence or prosecuted before the criminal courts (see also Joint Service Regula- tion 14/3 B 127). f) Documents with a security classifica- tion higher than 'restricted' may not be appended to petitions to the Parlia- German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 94 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 95 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

25.3 Statistical overviews

Page

Overview of cases processed in 2012

Breakdown of processed cases by content

Breakdown of processed cases by senders and other sources of in- formation

Breakdown of processed cases by major organisational elements of the Bundeswehr

Breakdown of processed cases by rank categories of the personnel

Development of the number of petitions and other cases between 1959 and 2012

Visits, meetings, discussions of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces and his staff

Overview of the Annual Reports for 1959 to 2012 and their delibera- tion by the German Bundestag

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 96 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Overview of cases processed in 2012

In total, 4,309 cases were recorded in the period under review. 204 cases did not concern the sphere of responsibility of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, were received anonymously or not pursued further owing to their content, or were enquiries relating to the statutory mandate of the Parliamentary Commissioner. Accordingly, 4,105 processed cases remain forthe period under review.

Cases recorded in the period under review 4,309 Thereof: Cases not concerning the sphere of responsibility of the 83 Parliamentary Commissioner Anonymous cases 37 Cases not pursued further owing to their content 4 Enquiries relating to the statutory mandate of the Parliamentary Commissioner 80 204 *) Processed cases 4,105 Cases not yet finalised 1,570 Number of finalised cases from the period under review 2,535

*) Petitions whose processing was not the responsibility of the Parliamentary Commissioner were either forwarded to the responsible agencies, or the

Finalised cases from previous years (backlogs) 2000 2 *) 2001 1 *) 2002 3 *) 2003 1 *) 2004 1 *) 2005 3 *) 2006 10 *) 2007 17 *) 2008 27 *) 2009 64 *) 2010 176 2011 1,490 Total number of finalised cases from previous years 1,795

*) In these cases, judicial proceedings on the same matter were often pending and only finally concluded in the course of the year under review.

Grand total of finalised cases 4,330

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 97 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Breakdown of processed cases by content

Content Number % Fundamental issues relating to internal leadership, the Bundeswehr in the 65 1,58 state and society, restructuring Comments and remarks on the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner 23 0,56 * Military personnel deployed abroad 347 8,45 ) Leadership / Military discipline 713 17,37 Women in the armed forces 125 3,05 Compatibility of family and service 373 9,09 Establishment and amendment of service relationships 434 10,57 Assignment planning, deficiencies in personnel management, leave 500 12,18 Promotion 113 2,75 Admission to the careers 45 1,10 Vetting, personnel organisation 52 1,27 Personnel issues of military service volunteers 172 4,19 Reservist affairs / Reserve duty training 163 3,97 Free medical care 237 5,77 Accommodation / Catering / Clothing / MWR 122 2,97 Pay and subsidiary fields of pay regulations 464 11,30 Social affairs / Pensions 157 3,82 Total 4.105 100,00

Breakdown of processed cases by content

800 713

700

600 500 464 500 434 373 400 347 300 237 172 163 157 200 125 113 122

Number casesNumber of 65

100 23 45 52

… …

… … … … …

… … 0 …

Promotion

Free medical care medical Free

Establishment and and Establishment

Assignment planning, Assignment

Social affairs / Pensions / affairsSocial

Admission to the careersthe to Admission

Reservist affairs / Reserve affairs Reservist

Comments and remarks on remarks and Comments

Personnel issues of military military ofissues Personnel

Pay and subsidiary fields offields subsidiary and Pay

Women in the armed forces armed the in Women

Compatibility of family and and family of Compatibility

Fundamental issues relatingissues Fundamental

Military personnel deployed personnel Military

Accommodation / Catering / Catering/ Accommodation

Vetting, personnel organisationpersonnel Vetting, Leadership / Military discipline Military/ Leadership German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 98 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Breakdown of processed cases by senders and other sources of information

Bundeswehr Bundeswehr Total Sender/ personnel personnel Source of (male) (female) Family Private Organisation information Former Members of Other Other members of persons s, Visits to the Serious Bundeswehr the Members of Press reports sources of Bundeswehr outside the associations, troops incidents personnel Bundestag Parliament information personnel Bundeswehr etc. Content

Fundamental issues relating to internal leadership, the Bundeswehr 30 0 0 3 0 1 23 0 1 1 0 6 65 in the state and society, restructuring Comments and remarks on the work 12 1 0 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 3 23 of the Parliamentary Commissioner

Military personnel deployed abroad 223 15 12 9 0 0 10 0 24 3 17 34 347

Leadership / Military discipline 347 35 10 10 2 0 15 1 12 5 244 32 713 Women in the armed forces 16 91 1 1 0 0 7 0 0 1 1 7 125 Compatibility of family and service 216 72 36 5 2 0 8 0 15 0 0 19 373 Establishment and amendment of 287 33 15 22 2 0 57 1 12 0 0 5 434 service relationships Assignment planning, deficiencies 424 41 4 5 2 0 13 1 8 0 0 2 500 in personnel management, leave Promotion 105 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 113 Admission to the careers 38 5 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 45 Vetting, personnel organisation 48 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 52 Personnel issues of military service 81 10 12 26 0 0 25 0 4 1 0 13 172 volunteers Reservist affairs / Reserve duty 6 5 1 129 1 0 13 0 3 0 0 5 163 training Free medical care 126 42 11 11 0 0 33 2 5 1 3 3 237 Accommodation / Catering / 84 8 2 2 0 0 9 0 16 0 0 1 122 Clothing / MWR Pay and subsidiary fields of pay 258 23 11 39 1 0 104 1 19 0 0 8 464 regulations Social affairs / Pensions 76 13 1 20 0 0 39 1 4 0 0 3 157 Grand total 2.377 400 119 282 11 1 363 7 127 12 265 141 4.105 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 99 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 100 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Breakdown of processed cases by major organisational elements of the Bundeswehr

Not Major Central organisational identifiable Federal Federal Medical elements or not from Defence Joint Support Ministry of Agencies of Army Air Force Navy Total the sphere of Administrati Service Defence the Content the on Bundeswehr Bundeswehr

Fundamental issues 1 3 8 4 4 36 1 8 65 Militaryrelating topersonnel internal 0 18 41 30 27 61 1 169 347 Commentsdeployed abroad and remarks on 1 0 4 1 1 11 0 5 23 Leadershipthe work of /the Military 2 56 248 90 66 62 1 188 713 Womendiscipline in the armed forces 1 31 24 14 9 18 1 27 125 Compatibility of family and 0 51 94 56 24 64 2 82 373 Establishmentservice and 0 57 114 54 15 98 2 94 434 Assignmentamendment of planning, service 1 48 160 85 29 32 4 141 500 Promotiondeficiencies in personnel 1 29 33 11 4 4 0 31 113 Admission to the careers 0 7 14 5 2 4 0 13 45 Vetting, personnel 0 2 19 12 5 2 0 12 52 Personnelorganisation issues of military 0 12 46 18 4 69 0 23 172 Reservistservice volunteers affairs / Reserve 0 6 12 4 1 116 5 19 163 Freeduty medicaltraining care 0 57 57 14 13 60 3 33 237 Accommodation / Catering 0 10 44 9 13 17 2 27 122 Pay/ Clothing and subsidiary / MWR fields 3 34 93 43 21 178 6 86 464 Socialof pay affairsregulations / Pensions 0 16 18 18 6 62 3 34 157 Grand total 10 437 1.029 468 244 894 31 992 4.105

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Breakdown of processed cases by rank categories of the personnel

Rank categories, Unknown incl. reservists rank or not Senior Non-rated Generals Captains Lieutenants Senior NCOs Junior NCOs from the Total officers personnel Content sphere of the Bundeswehr

Compatibility of family and 1 21 22 25 181 38 34 51 373 Establishmentservice and 0 13 18 25 152 56 101 69 434 Assignmentamendment of planning, service 0 43 36 51 219 90 34 27 500 Promotiondeficiencies in personnel 0 13 20 11 57 9 3 0 113 Admission to the careers 0 0 2 1 16 15 8 3 45 Vetting, personnel 0 9 10 7 18 3 5 0 52 Personnelorganisation issues of military 0 4 7 9 10 2 93 47 172 Reservistservice volunteers affairs / Reserve 0 15 9 11 60 15 33 20 163 Freeduty medicaltraining care 0 25 17 9 78 24 35 49 237 Accommodation / Catering 0 10 9 8 38 8 22 27 122 Pay/ Clothing and subsidiary / MWR fields 0 41 57 27 143 36 46 114 464 Socialof pay affairsregulations / Pensions 0 11 12 5 47 20 15 47 157 Fundamental issues 0 10 3 5 11 4 4 28 65 Commentsrelating to internaland remarks on 0 7 0 1 6 0 0 9 23 Militarythe work personnel of the 0 20 22 17 150 20 24 94 347 Leadershipdeployed abroad / Military 0 18 28 26 261 124 166 90 713 Womendiscipline in the armed forces 0 3 5 8 43 21 25 20 125 Grand total 1 263 277 246 1.490 485 648 695 4.105

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Development of the number of petitions and other cases between 1959 and 2012

Types of petition Petitions not Petitions Average Petition rate Total number concerning the concerning the annual Year of sphere of sphere of per thousand of petitions Class-action Anonymous strength of Report responsibility responsibility Other cases military received petitions petitions military personnel of the of the personnel Parliamentary Parliamentary Commissioner Commissioner 1959 3.368 336 4 3 3.025 0 248.800 13,5 1960 5.471 254 17 10 5.190 0 258.080 21,2 1961 3.829 250 11 13 3.555 0 316.090 12,1 1962 5.736 170 16 13 5.537 0 374.766 15,3 1963 5.938 502 0 34 4.736 666 401.337 14,8 1964 5.322 597 0 26 4.047 652 424.869 12,5 1965 4.408 400 0 18 3.424 566 437.236 10,1 1966 4.353 519 0 24 3.810 0 454.569 9,6 1967 4.503 487 0 19 3.997 0 456.764 9,9 1968 6.517 484 0 16 6.017 0 472.070 13,8 1969 7.033 606 0 22 6.405 0 455.114 15,5 1970 7.142 550 0 16 6.576 0 468.484 15,2 1971 7.891 501 0 9 7.381 0 466.889 16,9 1972 7.789 344 12 21 7.412 0 492.828 15,8 1973 6.673 264 6 8 6.395 0 472.943 14,1 1974 6.748 249 4 4 6.491 0 490.053 13,8 1975 6.439 341 0 9 6.089 0 486.206 13,2 1976 7.319 354 0 3 6.962 0 488.616 15,0 1977 6.753 347 0 3 6.403 0 491.424 13,7 1978 6.234 259 0 10 5.965 0 491.481 12,7 1979 6.884 276 0 13 6.595 0 492.344 14,0 1980 7.244 278 0 23 6.943 0 490.243 14,8 1981 7.265 307 0 15 6.943 0 493.089 14,7 1982 6.184 334 0 9 5.841 0 490.729 12,6 1983 6.493 397 0 49 6.047 0 495.875 13,1 1984 6.086 301 0 16 5.755 14 487.669 12,5 1985 8.002 487 0 28 7.467 20 495.361 16,2 1986 8.619 191 0 22 8.384 22 495.639 17,4 1987 8.531 80 0 22 8.419 10 495.649 17,2 1988 8.563 62 0 38 8.441 22 494.592 17,3 1989 10.190 67 0 9 10.088 26 486.825 20,9 1990 9.590 89 0 26 9.449 26 458.752 20,9

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 103 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Development of the number of petitions and other cases between 1959 and 2012 (contd.)

Types of petition Petitions not Petitions Average Petition rate Total number concerning the concerning the annual Year of sphere of sphere of per thousand of petitions Class-action Anonymous strength of Report responsibility responsibility Other cases military received petitions petitions military personnel of the of the personnel Parliamentary Parliamentary Commissioner Commissioner 1991 9.864 183 0 24 9.644 13 476.288 20,7 1992 8.084 69 0 13 7.973 29 445.019 18,2 1993 7.391 49 0 18 7.309 15 399.216 18,5 1994 5.916 66 0 21 5.810 19 361.177 16,4 1995 5.979 94 0 23 5.493 369 344.690 17,3 1996 6.264 63 0 20 6.112 69 342.870 18,3 1997 6.647 80 0 14 6.509 44 332.013 20,0 1998 6.122 84 0 11 5.985 42 330.914 18,5 1999 5.885 66 0 20 5.769 30 331.148 17,8 2000 4.952 58 0 8 4.856 30 318.713 15,5 2001 4.891 115 0 12 4.741 23 306.087 16,0 2002 6.436 110 0 13 6.270 43 294.800 21,8 2003 6.082 124 0 6 5.958 85 283.723 21,4 2004 6.154 134 0 16 6.020 80 263.990 23,3 2005 5.601 49 0 12 5.436 0 251.722 22,3 2006 5.918 67 0 16 5.727 108 249.964 23,7 2007 5.276 81 0 25 5.052 118 248.995 21,2 2008 5.474 67 0 27 5.190 186 247.619 22,1 2009 5.779 80 0 46 5.454 247 249.900 23,1 2010 4.993 81 0 43 4.748 121 245.823 20,3 2011 4.926 60 0 62 4.612 192 206.091 23,9 2012 4.309 83 0 37 4.105 84 197.880 21,8 Total 346.060 12.546 70 1.038 328.562 3.971

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Visits, meetings, discussions of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces

1. Visits of the Parliamentary Commissioner to the troops

Location Agency Aachen School of Land Systems Engineering Alamogordo/Holloman Air- Air Force Flying Training Centre force Base, USA Bayerisch Eisenstein Detached Technical Platoon 133 Beelitz Logistic Battalion 172 Berlin 3rd Air Transport Squadron of the Special Air Mission Wing of the Federal Ministry of Defence Bremerhaven Gorch Fock sail training ship Brück Light Infantry Battalion 291 Calw Special Forces Command Camp Novo Selo, Kosovo German KFOR Contingent Celle Army Aviation School, Training Centre C Cham Signal Battalion 4 Djibouti German ATALANTA Contingent Donaueschingen Light Infantry Battalion 292 El Paso/Fort Bliss, USA German Air Force Tactical Command USA/CAN German Air Force Air Defence Centre USA Flensburg Mürwik Naval Academy Goodyear, USA 3rd German Air Force Training Squadron Hamburg Helmut Schmidt University Bundeswehr University, Hamburg Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Light Infantry Battalion 291 France Juba, Sudan German UNMISS Contingent Cologne Bundeswehr Counterintelligence Office Kunduz, Afghanistan German ISAF Contingent Laupheim Medium Transport Helicopter Regiment 25 Leer Rapid Medical Response Forces Command Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan German ISAF Contingent Mayen Psychological Operations Centre Müllheim French-German Brigade Niederstetten Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 Oberndorf Bundeswehr Quality Assurance Office Oldenburg Airborne Brigade 31, Airborne Support Battalion 272 OP North, Afghanistan German ISAF Contingent Pfullendorf Special Operations Training Centre, Long-Range Reconnaissance German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 105 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

Demonstration Company 200 Pristina, Kosovo German KFOR Contingent Prizren, Kosovo German KFOR Contingent Regen Armoured Infantry Battalion 112 Schönewalde Helicopter Wing 64 Stadtallendorf Special Operations Division, Airborne Signal Battalion Warendorf Bundeswehr Sports School Wunstorf Air Transport Wing 62

2. Meetings/discussions of the Parliamentary Commissioner

Beyond this, I had the opportunity to exchange information and experience at 103 meetings, e.g. with the Minister of Defence and the diplomatic corps.

I additionally took part in 133 conferences, discussions and other events in connection with the statu- tory mandate of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces.

3. Visits to the troops and fact-finding visits by staff of the Parliamentary Commissioner

In the year under review, my staff and I made a total of 55 fact-finding visits. Units, headquarters, agen- cies and authorities of the services in Germany and abroad were visited. The meetings and conferences listed below were likewise attended.

The detailed picture is as follows:

Fact-finding visits/participation in meetings and conferences by staff Date Location January 2012 19.01. Berlin Inaugural lecture, Dr. Zimmermann, Charité campus February 2012 02.02. Bonn Official meeting at the Federal Ministry of Defence, An- nual Reception of the General Spokespersons' Committee 07.-08.02. Berlin Conference of military Gender Equality Officers 08.-09.02. Georgsmarienhütte Presentation and discussion at a conference of "aktion kaserne" (an initiative of German Catholic youth associa- tions to support and represent military service volun- teers) 22.02. Leipzig Federal Administrative Court 28.02. Berlin Federal Ministry of Defence, Mr. Kossendey's office March 2012 29.2.-02.03. Munich Participation at the Company Sergeant Major Conference, Bundeswehr Medical Academy 07.-09.03 Damp Working Conference of Officers in the Medical Service of the Northern Military District Command 12.-13.03 Rostock 57th General Conference of Protestant Military Chaplains German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 106 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

13.03. Berlin International Parliamentary Scholarship Programme, presentation 15.03. Bonn Information visit, Federal Ministry of Defence, Person- nel, Social Services and Central Affairs Director- ate/Medical Service Staff 21.03. Dresden Event at the Museum of Military History at the invitation of the Federal Ministry of Defence 27.03. Delitzsch Army Staff Conference April 2012 16.-17.04. Damp Presentation, G1 Conference, Military District Command I "Coast" 17.04. Bonn Federal Ministry of Defence, discussion of petitions and meeting with Personnel, Social Services and Central Af- fairs Directorate III 2 18.-19.04. Georgsmarienhütte Presentation and discussion at the conference of the "ak- tion kaserne" spokespersons May 2012 01.-05.05. Quebec, Canada Participation in the Conference of the International Soci- ety for Military Law 03.05. Berlin Annual General Meeting, Konrad Adenauer Foundation 08.05. Dresden Presentation and discussion at G1/S1 Conference of the Army Office, Army Officer School 16.05. Berlin Meeting at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Directorate- General for Forces Policy II 4 17.-18.05. Mannheim Participation in the 98th Katholikentag, Day of Military Chaplaincy 21.-22.05. Berlin Working Conference, Commander Bundeswehr Medical Office 21.-24.05. Munster Evaluation meeting on defence materiel at Armour Dem- onstration Brigade 9 22.05. Stausberg Bundeswehr Academy for Information and Communica- tion 24.05. Berlin 8th Job and Education Fair, Bundeswehr Vocational Ad- vancement Service Berlin, Julius Leber Barracks 29.-31.05. Dresden Participation in the General Conference of the Military Legal System Personnel of the Bundeswehr June 2012 31.05.-01.06. Hamburg Solidarity Run of the Bundeswehr University, Hamburg 12.06. Bremerhaven Presentation for judges of the Bundeswehr Disciplinary and Complaints Courts; visit to the Gorch Fock sail train- ing ship 12.-13.06. Homberg-Hülsa Working Conference, Soldatenselbsthilfe gegen Sucht e.V. (self-help group of military personnel with addic- tions) 18.06. Koblenz Presentation "Orientation Course for Legal Advisors of the Bundeswehr" German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 107 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

25.06. Cologne Bundeswehr Personnel Office, Bundeswehr Enlisted Per- sonnel Office July 2012 02.07. Cologne Army Office 10.-11.07. Koblenz/Bonn Leadership Development and Civic Education Centre 11.07. Bonn Federal Ministry of Defence, information meeting 25.07. Berlin Discussion of the "Military Family" study 25.-26.07. Karlsruhe Bundeswehr Disciplinary and Complaints Court August 2012 20.-24.08. Koblenz Seminar "Leadership Development and Civic Education for Battalion Commanders" 27.-29.08. Wilhelmshaven Participation and presentation at the conference of legal advisors and administrators of justice of the Navy/Medical Service 29.-30.08. Wilhelmshaven Conference of legal advisors and administrators of justice of the Navy 29.-30.08. Volkach Presentation and discussion at the conference of com- pany sergeant majors and company commanders September 2012 02.-07.09. Israel Seminar for German political and civic leaders of the American Jewish Committee 24.-26.09. Munich Bundeswehr Medical Academy 28.09. Bonn Federal Ministry of Defence October 2012 02.-03.10. Koblenz Parade and reception, Medical Command, ceremony and reception, Federal Office of Bundeswehr Materiel, Infor- mation Technology and Equipment Management 16.10. Cologne General Conference of Catholic military chaplains, Pon- tifical Mass and reception 19.-20.10. Hamburg Participation at PTSD Congress (Bundeswehr University, Hamburg) November 2012 06.-10.11. Afghanistan Accompaniment of a visit of the Chief Administrator and Deputy to the troops 07.-09.11. Homberg/ Efze- Participation at the Working Conference of Soldat- Hülsa enselbsthilfe gegen Sucht e.V. 12.-16.11. Croatia IPS selection trip 13.-14.11. Wiesbaden Autumn Conference of the Federal Criminal Police Office on right-wing extremism 13.11. Steinheim a. d. Murr Participation at the "Bundeswehr and Industry Forum" 19.-21.11. Skopje, Macedonia Conference participation and presentation at the "Round Table on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Armed Forces" of the OSCE German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 108 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

22.11. Koblenz Presentation at the Leadership Development and Civic Education Centre December 2012 03.12. Cologne Visit to the Bundeswehr Counterintelligence Office 05.-07.12. Teisendorf Presentation and discussion at the "aktion kaserne" con- ference

4. Visitor groups

The agency was visited by 101 groups with a total of 2,289 participants.

The detailed picture is as follows:

Visitor groups Date Visitor group Number of participants January 2012 17.01. Military personnel, NCO School 20 February 2012 01.02. German-Estonian delegation 25 08.02. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 08.02. Tunisian delegation 8 09.02. Military personnel, Officer Training School 10 13.02. South African delegation 5 15.02. Indian delegation 4 22.02. German-Lithuanian delegation 25 27.02. Course participants 10 28.02. Military personnel, Airborne Brigade 30 29.02. Military personnel, Command Support Battalion 35 March 2012 05.03. Military personnel, Naval Office 30 05.03. Military personnel, Federal Ministry of Defence 15 06.03. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 07.03. German-Latvian delegation 25 14.03. German-Bosnian delegation 15 15.03. German-Vietnamese delegation 22 15.03. Military personnel, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Staat und Gesell- schaft e.V. (Working Group on State and Society) 35 19.03. Military personnel, disabled military personnel foundation 12 20.03. Military personnel, Tank Division 7 21.03. German-American delegation 25 22.03. Military personnel, Garrison Command Berlin 5 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 109 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

26.03. Military personnel, Bundeswehr Logistics School 22 April 2012 03.04. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 12.04. Military personnel, Karl-Theodor Molinari Foundation 25 16.04. Studying officers and officer candidates 30 18.04. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 22 18.04. Military personnel, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Staat und Gesell- schaft e.V. 22 18.04. German-British delegation 25 24.04. Military personnel, Konrad Adenauer Foundation 17 24.04. Military personnel, Air Force Weapon Systems Command 12 25.04. Military personnel, Schwerin Academy 25 25.04. German-Belgian delegation 25 May 2012 02.05. Military personnel, 2nd Logistics Battalion 50 09.05. German-French delegation 25 15.05. Military personnel, Association for Defence and Security Policy 30 16.05. Thai military delegation 10 21.05. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 22.05. Military personnel, Federal Ministry of Defence 100 23.05. German-Dutch delegation 25 23.05. Military personnel, Federal Ministry of Defence 14 June 2012 06.06. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 25 06.06. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 25 07.06. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 20 12.06. Military personnel, Air Force Training Command 9 13.06. German-Polish delegation 25 19.06. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 19 20.06. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 15 22.06. German-Chinese delegation 35 26.06. Military personnel, Bundeswehr Academy 33 27.06. German-American delegation 23 28.06. Military personnel, Medical Clinic 20 July 2012 03.07. Volkach Maintenance Team 25 03.07. NATO officers 87 04.07. German-Kosovar delegation 15 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 110 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

04.07. Headquarters staff, Military District Command IV 16 05.07. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 06.07. Senior officers from Central and Eastern Europe 4 10.07. Military personnel, via the office of a Member of Parliament 45 10.07. German-Belgian delegation 25 19.07. Military personnel, Air Force Officer School 11 August 2012 01.08. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 01.08. Military personnel, Weissenfels Medical Clinic 20 08.08. Military personnel, Schwerin Academy 25 09.08. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 10.08. Military personnel, 2nd Field Hospital Regiment 41 47 22.08. Officer cadets 19 28.08. Military personnel, Medical Service 15 29.08. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 15 29.08. German-British delegation 25 30.08. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 September 2012 05.09. German-Armenian delegation 15 06.09. Military personnel, Headquarters, Fleet Command 15 06.09. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 12.09. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 12.09. German-American delegation 25 12.09. Military personnel, Bundeswehr Personnel Office 15 13.09. Military personnel, Association for Defence and Security Policy 41 18.09. Military personnel, Appen Officer Training School 16 25.09. German-Philippine delegation 10 27.09. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 October 2012 05.10. Officers from the Military Academy at ETH Zurich 23 10.10. Military personnel, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Staat und Gesell- schaft e.V. 30 10.10. German-French delegation 25 11.10. Military chaplains 10 29.10. Military personnel, Strategic Reconnaissance School 8 31.10. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 November 2012 01.11. German-Tajik delegation 10 German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 111 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

07.11. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 07.11. German-Czech delegation 25 19.11. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 21.11. Military personnel, Hermann Ehlers Foundation 25 27.11. Military personnel, Bundeswehr University, Hamburg 20 28.11. Military personnel, Schwerin Academy 19 29.11. Military personnel, 2nd Squadron of the Protection Regi- ment 17 December 2012 05.12. Military personnel, Hermann-Ehlers-Akademie GmbH 15 05.12. Military personnel, Air Force Officer School 16 07.12. Delegation from the Korean Office of Military Procurement 4 13.12. German-Uzbek delegation 10 13.12. Military personnel, Naval Office 25 17.12. Military personnel, Medical Regiment 32 35

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 112 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

25.4 Overview of the Annual Reports for 1959 to 2012 and their deliberation by the German Bundestag Annual Report Deliberation by the Bundestag Recommenda- Year Submission date No. of the tion for a deci- Date Plenary Source ref- of Re- Bundestag sion and Report Session erence in port printed paper of the Defence No. the Steno- Committee graphic Re- (Bundestag port printed paper) 1796 2937 1959 8 April 1960 3rd electoral 3rd electoral 29 June 1961 165 p. 9670 ff. term term 2666 2937 1960 14 April 1961 3rd electoral 3rd electoral 29 June 1961 165 p. 9670 ff. term term 1961 27 April 1962 IV/371 VI/477 27 June 1962 36 p. 1555 ff. 21 February 1962 11 April 1963 IV/1183 IV/1377 117 p. 5359 ff. 1964 11 December 1964 1963 4 June 1964 IV/2305 IV/2795 153 p. 7585 ff. and 21 January 1965 1964 4 June 1965 IV/3524 V/1641 11 May 1967 109 p. 5179 ff. 1965 7 July 1966 V/820 V/1641 11 May 1967 109 p. 5179 ff. 1966 31 May 1967 V/1825 V/1926 29 June 1967 117 p. 5903 ff. 1967 22 May 1968 V/2948 V/3422 15 January 1969 207 p. 11207 ff. 19 February 1968 V/3912 V/4425 27 June 1969 244 p. 13603 ff. 1969 11 March 1970 36 p. 1743 ff. 26 February 1969 VI/453 VI/800 and 1970 2 June 1970 54 p. 2813 ff. 1970 1 March 1971 VI/1942 VI/2168 12 May 1971 122 p. 7073 ff. 14 April 1972 181 p. 10522 ff. 1971 9 February 1972 VI/3232 VI/3499 and 23 June 1972 196 p. 11511 ff. 29 November 1972 15 March 1973 7/334 7/1208 67 p. 3997 ff. 1973 5 December 1973 7 March 1974 7/1765 7/2726 134 p. 9160 ff. 1974 18 April 1975 165 p. 11555 ff. 13 February 1974 7/3228 7/3762 and 1975 8 April 1976 235 p. 16487 ff. 8 April 1976 235 p. 16487 ff.. 27 February 1975 7/4812 7/5342 and 1976 25 June 1976 254 p. 18102 ff. 1976 3 March 1977 8/153 8/968 20 October 1977 50 p. 3765 ff. 17 November 1978 118 p. 9184 ff. 1977 6 March 1978 8/1581 8/2224 and 7 December 123 p. 9591 ff. 1978 18 May 1979 155 p. 12391 ff. 1978 6 March 1979 8/2625 8/2986 and 27 June 1979 163 p. 12968 ff.

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 113 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

25.4 Overview of the Annual Reports for 1959 to 2012 and their deliberation by the German Bundestag (contd.) Annual Report Deliberation by the Bundestag Recommenda- Year Submission date No. of the tion for a deci- Date Plenary Source ref- of Re- Bundestag sion and Report Session erence in port printed paper of the Defence No. the Steno- Committee graphic Re- (Bundestag port printed paper) 26 June 1980 226 p. 18309 ff. 1979 18 March 1980 8/3800 8/4374 and 3 July 1980 229 p. 18676 ff. 14 May 1981 37 p. 1864 ff. 1980 17 March 1981 9/240 9/1399 and 12 March 1982 92 p. 5552 ff. 1981 3 March 1982 9/1406 9/1695 9 June 1982 105 p. 6317 ff. 1982 3 March 1983 9/2425 10/136 29 September 25 p. 1714 ff. 1983 1983 24 February 10/1061 10/1611 4 October 1984 88 p. 6473 ff. 1984 1984 28 February 10/2946 10/3779 14 March 1985 126 p. 9261 ff. 1985 and 27 September 160 p. 11983 ff. 1985 1985 28 February 10/5132 10/5722 15 May 1986 216 p. 16669 1986 and 25 June 1986 225 p. 17405 ff. 1986 9 March 1987 11/42 11/1131 10 December 49 p. 3491 ff. 1987 1987 21 March 1988 11/2034 11/2528 21 April 1988 74 p. 5015 and 23 June 1988 87 p. 5935 ff. p. 5943 ff. 1988 15 February 11/3998 11/4809 22 June 1989 152 p. 11426 ff. 1989 1989 14 February 11/6522 11/7798 13 September 224 p. 17731 ff. 1990 1990 1990 21 March 1991 12/230 12/1073 19 September 41 p. 3359 ff. 1991 1991 12 March 1992 12/2200 12/2782 8 October 1992 110 p. 9418 ff. 1992 23 March 1993 12/4600 18 June 1993 164 p. 14110 ff. 12/6322 15 April 1994 220 p. 19068 ff. 1993 8 March 1994 12/6950 12/8465 21 September 243 p. 21690 1994 1994 7 March 1995 13/700 13/2649 29 February 89 p. 7876 ff. 1996 1995 5 March 1996 13/3900 13/5400 7 November 135 p. 12139 ff. 1996 1996 11 March 1997 13/7100 13/8468 30 October 1997 200 p. 18021 ff. 1997 3 March 1998 13/10000 13/11067 24 June 1998 244 p. 22740 ff. 1998 16 March 1999 14/500 14/1807 21 January 2000 82 p. 7595 ff.

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 114 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______

25.4 Overview of the Annual Reports for 1959 to 2012 and their deliberation by the German Bundestag (contd.)

Annual Report Deliberation by the Bundestag Recommenda- Year Submission date No. of the tion for a deci- Date Plenary Source ref- of Re- Bundestag sion and Report Session erence in port printed paper of the Defence No. the Steno- Committee graphic Re- (Bundestag port printed paper) 1999 14 March 2000 14/2900 14/4204 6 April 2000 98 p. 9117 and 26 October 2000 127 p. 12186 ff. 2000 13 March 2001 14/5400 14/7111 31 May 2001 173 p. 16995 ff. and 15 November 201 p. 19734 ff. 2001 2001 12 March 2002 14/8330 -- 19 April 2002 231 p. 23000 ff. 2002 11 March 2003 15/500 15/1837 3 April 2003 37 p. 3055 ff. and 13 November 75 p. 6506 ff. 2003 2003 9 March 2004 15/2600 15/4475 6 May 2004 108 p. 9837 ff. and 16 December 148 p. 13808 ff. 2004 2004 15 March 2005 15/5000 20 January 2006 12 p. 825 ff. 2005 14 March 2006 16/850 16/3561 30 June 2006 44 p. 4298 ff. and 73 p. 7300 b ff. 14 December 2006 2006 20 March 2007 16/4700 16/6700 21 June 2007 105 p. 10812 ff. and 13 December 133 p. 13953 ff. 2007 2007 4 March 2008 16/8200 16/10990 19 June 2008 169 p. 17923 D and ff. 4 December 193 2008 p. 20818 A ff. 2008 24 March 2009 16/12200 17/713 23 April 2009 217 p. 23552 D 17/591 No. 1.6 26 February 25 ff. 2010 p. 2221 ff. 2009 16 March 2010 17/900 17/3738 6 May 2010 40 p. 3891 A ff. 2010 25 January 2011 17/4400 17/6170 22 September 127 p. 15048 A 2011 ff. 2011 24 January 2012 17/8400 17/11215 27 September 195 p. 23439 A 2012 ff. and 216 16 January 2013 p. 26693 B ff. 2012 29 January 2013 17/12050

German Bundestag - 17th electoral term - 115 - Printed Paper 17/12050 ______25.5 Organisational chart

Parliamentary Commissioner Personal Assistant for the Armed Forces RR Hoffmann Hellmut Königshaus

Chief Administrator MDg Wolfgang Müller

Division WB 1 Division WB 2 Division WB 3 Division WB 4 Division WB 5 Division WB 6

Policy / Principles Leadership in Compatibility Personnel Mat- Welfare and Visits to the of Internal Leader- the Armed of Family and ters concerning Care Troops and ship / Internal Ad- Forces / Service Service, Volun- Career Soldiers Fact-Finding ministration Personnel tary Service, and Tempo- Visits / Press Abroad Women in the rary-Career and Public Re- Armed Forces Volunteers lations / Spe- and Matters cialist Military concerning Re- Affairs servists

MR Günther MR Meyer MR Zender MR Dr. Berg MR Nissler MR Jacobi

Address: Platz der Republik 1 D-11011 Berlin, Germany Address for visi- Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 15 tors: D-10117 Berlin, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)30 227-38100 Fax: +49 (0)30 227-38283 IVBB Tel.: +49 (0)30 1818-38100 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.bundestag.de

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