By John Ballard
I didn't know this but it makes sense.
Hospitals in Germany may lose a source of cheap labor if a proposal to abolish the draft is pushed through.
Because Germany is under pressure to cut defense spending and modernize its armed forces, the defense minister has called for military conscription to be scrapped, the Wall Street Journal reports. But some people affiliated with the healthcare sector argue that abolishing the draft would hurt public services, because the pipeline of conscientious objectors who staff social services for six months at a time would dry up.
For the past 20 years, more than half of draftees have opted for conscientious objector status, which is allowed in Germany. In 2009, 66 percent of the 226,000 men deemed fit to serve filed as conscientious objectors, which got them jobs as civilian servants, the WSJ reports.
Hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes have come to depend on the conscientious objectors to perform "supplementary" work that doesn't compete with traditional jobs. Peer Kopf, an expert on personnel and operations at the German Hospital Association, told the WSJ that losing their help "would definitely be a loss."
Nothing like this could happen here. Even during the unpopular Vietnam Conflict there were relatively few American conscientious objectors. Ours is a more bloodthirsty society. And we conscientious objectors are tolerated but not venerated.
The WSJ article is behind a subscription wall but here is a link to the WRI page copy.
Wow, the rift between America and sanity just keeps widening.
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteFor the past 20 years, more than half of draftees have opted for conscientious objector status, which is allowed in Germany.
ReplyDeleteActually, the conscientious objector option in Germany goes back a bit further than only 20 years. It was anchored in article 4 of the 1949 constitution which states that
"No person can be forced to perform military service against his conscience'. Details will be arranged by a separate law."
That constitutional article obviously was in response to the Nazi reign, but in the beginning of the West German Republic article 4 had no practical consequences as there was no German military until the mid 1950s. When the draft was re-instituted, a 'Civilian Service Law' had to be implemented and that is still how things are today (though the details of the law have changed a few times).
What has changed enormously over the years is the status of conscientious objectors. Especially during the cold war, the German government used every means at its disposal to deter conscientious objection. The civilian service was longer (up to one third) than military service and to become recognized as a conscientious objector you had to pass a panel that would examine your conscience and pronounce on whether your objection to military service really was grounded in a strongly held moral objections or not. If the panel didn't arrive at the conclusion that it was, you had a choice of military service or prison. And some of the people on these panels were known to be nasty pieces of work.
When the Bundeswehr started to need fewer bodies than there were potential draftees, and especially after the end of the cold war, the procedure to apply for conscientious objector status changed to one of merely filing a formal notification.
Thanks. That balances the picture better.
ReplyDeleteSo is the "civilian service law" universal? Is it still in effect? And does it conscript anyone for non-military/defense purposes?
Formally, the set-up in Germany is that military service is mandatory for all able-bodied males between 18 and, I think, 30 years of age, i.e. Germany does have a draft (although that is now under discussion). In a practical sense, he first step is that by age 18 all males receive an 'invitation' for a medical exam to establish their physical fitness for service.
ReplyDeleteA pronouncement of sufficient physical fitness in that examination gives rise to the obligation of performing military service, unless one files an application to be recognized as a conscientious objector. These days, when the Bundeswehr needs less than half of all eligible males to maintain is target strength, that filing is essentially a formality, but as I mentioned in my previous comment, there were times when conscientious objectors were given a hard time.
Instead of military service, conscientious objectors have to perform the 'civilian service'. All details concerning that 'civilian service' are, as mandated by article 4 of the constitution, settled in a separate 'Civilian Service Law'. That law is amended from time to time, for example to adjust the time of the service. In other words, such a law is in force.
So in principle, all males of a certain age are candidates for civilian or military service unless the medical exam pronounces them physically unfit. In reality though there always have been loopholes, such as deferments (of the Dick Cheney kind). If one managed to string together enough of these deferments to reach age thirty, one could avoid military or civilian service entirely.
Oh, and one related aspect: The German Bundeswehr does of course also have a voluntary part, or as it is called, a professional part. It is only those professionals who get sent to foreign missions like Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteWhich is kind of smart by the government because it makes it less likely that the draft or the foreign missions get questioned. On the other hand, it also means that the capacity of the Bundeswehr for such missions is rather limited. Just like their American colleagues most of the German soldiers in Afghanistan have already seen several tours there.
Interesting. And very sensible. Getting drafted for public service is categorically different from being drafted to risk losing one's life.
ReplyDeleteOur use of the term "all-volunteer military" is a subtle way of implying no conscription. But nobody was drafted for any branch of service other than the Army. Those serving in the other branches (Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard) have always been enlisted. A looming military draft is an inspiration for young men to join the other branches, possibly hoping to avoid becoming cannon fodder in the Army.
I have been expecting a return of the draft for some time but thus far it has not happened. The scarcity of attractive civilian opportunities in an increasingly high-tech economy together with the growth of a garrison state in the US seems to have been enough to meet the manpower needs of the military. Uniformed services are also being displaced by outsourcing as we gather to worship in ever greater numbers at the altar of free enterprise. (Extra-judicial assassinations and such are not particularly new, but in an era of predator drones and technological advances military exercises, like surgery, have become, shall we say, less invasive.)
I was drafted as a conscientious objector and have a visceral dislike of the need for military forces. But over the last forty-plus years since I finished my service as a draftee I have come to look with anxiety on the rise of a permanent professional warrior class. Wars of conscience are being displaced by wars to achieve economic ends. And feeding the manpower and materials needs of the uniformed services have become our most durable employment program.