The new chairman of the Reservists’ Association, Bastian Ernst, has called for raising the mandatory retirement age for reservists from 65 to 70 years. Speaking to “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” he stated that this change makes sense for several reasons. According to Ernst, since the general retirement age is increasing, people are staying physically fit for longer, and society should not waste the valuable resources of people with life and professional experience. He suggested that if concerns are raised about a lack of young recruits, improvements should also be made on the older end of the age demographic. He advocated that this measure should be included in the draft strengthening of the reserve force act.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius (SPD) plans to present a new strategy for the reserve force on Wednesday and intends to submit the reserve strengthening law later this summer.
Ernst further suggested eliminating the employers’ right to object if reservists are called up for exercises, adding that the reservists themselves should not be forced into service. In any case, he stressed the need for comprehensive planning regarding how many reservists should participate in exercises annually, which would allow employers and employees to prepare accordingly.
The association chairman, who was elected on April 11th, also argued for providing reservists with adequate equipment and creating sensible training opportunities. He concluded by saying, “If we want a major change when it comes to personnel, we need to plan this much better”.
When asked about the current number of reservists, Ernst responded that the Ministry of Defence does not have an exact figure, nor is it straightforward to determine. He noted that it is known that eight to nine million people have served in the armed forces at some point. He also pointed out that approximately 60,000 reservists are currently called up-meaning they are permanently planned for and readily available from the armed forces. According to the Wehrdienstmodernisierungsgesetz, this number is expected to rise to 200,000 by 2035. Additionally, he cited the size of his own association’s membership at around 110,000. He recalled that between 10,000 and 15,000 reservists were deployed during the Coronavirus crisis, and that the new defense registration effort will be responsible for accurately recording these figures.