With the suspension of compulsory military service in 2011, the Bundeswehr stopped registering former conscripts. According to the reservists' association, their names are still in the database, but their addresses are not. “We lost their contact details,” said Patrick Sensburg in an interview with the Financial Times. – It's madness.
The Bundeswehr reservist Association is responsible for 10 million people in Germany, which They had previously served military service or served as professional soldiers. Ok 9 million of them are over 65 years old, and therefore do not qualify as reserves.
According to the association, the remaining one million reservists include 93 thousand Veterans from Afghanistan – A group that according to Sensburg has “high potential”. However, you can't contact them either. “We don't even know what state they are and whether they want to serve again,” complains the politician.
They are also guilty German and EU data protection regulationswhich prevent Bundeswehra from gaining access to data from the registration offices of residents, as was the case before 2011. However, when charging for the radio subscription, the data transfer works.
German deputy Patrick Sensburg. Arnsberg, April 17, 2021
For Sensburg it is absurd that the fee office can contact citizens a few weeks after moving, but There is no way to find people whose names are in the Association's registers.
The Reservist Association represents not only former conscripts and former professional soldiers, but also civilians who serve in reserves. Sensburg said that the association receives EUR 24 million (about PLN 100 million) a year from the federal government to provide support and training to former soldiers – and therefore it can be a valuable source of staff.
Sensburg calculates: even if only a quarter of almost 1 million reservists wanted to serve again, it would be enough to achieve the goal.
In response to the “FT” inquiry, the German Ministry of Defense stated that he is investigating how data protection ” reconciled with the requirements of reservists' work – and the resumption of military registration and monitoring, which we strive for as part of the new model of military service. “
