Abstract
These three books are all available only in German and provide excellent qualitative analyses that refer to developments in or around the German Bundeswehr. They are important from both an academic and a policy standpoint. After all, the German military has gone through one of the greatest and most radical set of changes in the Western world over the past 50–70 years. Not only has it undergone major modifications on its own, it has been combined with the former East German military. It behooves us to understand these systemic changes, how the Germans did or did not adapt to them, and their long-term implications for the Bundeswehr, NATO, and the study of civil–military relations.
These three books focus on German troops in Afghanistan as well as the process of training inside the German Bundeswehr. While these books do not provide answers to the problems with which they deal, they are still useful. Understanding difficulties in the Bundeswehr from a German perspective might help American troops do a better job of training Afghan troops and dealing with problems within the area. Likewise, and perhaps more importantly, a careful look at the issues considered most important in training German troops as discussed in the other two books might be helpful to Americans dealing with the same topic.
For those who have not dealt with the Bundeswehr in the post-World War II period, or more importantly in the last 15 or so years, the best one might say after reading both the Armee im Aufbruch and Undernehmen Bundeswehr? is that this is not your grandfather’s or even your father’s German Army. These troops are serving in a new world where everything regarding service is open to question. That concerns not only topics like discipline and creature comforts but also subjects such as the nature of combat and the role played by women, spouses, and families in the military. Both of these books are structured similarly. The Bohnert book deals with a wide variety of issues. It includes 15 separate articles. Among them are chapters on, “To be an Officer: Demands in Training,” “How to Serve: Prussian Tradition in the 21st Century,” “Women in Combat Troops,” “Soldier or Student? The Officer in Society and the Influence of Study,” and “The German Army in Combat 1914 to 1918: New Perspectives 100 Years after the Beginning of the War.” These are only a few of the topics addressed. Comparing these articles to the kind of chapters that would have appeared in a similar book 40 or 50 years ago is quite a shock. In the former instance, the articles would have focused on convincing the soldiers that they were part of a democratic military, while now they are more empirical.
Today, such articles indicate that in the German military mind, these soldiers perceive themselves as part and parcel of a democracy. Indeed, that is why many of the articles openly address sensitive topics. Equally interesting is to read the many endorsements from senior officers, who welcome such a collection of articles and praise the soldiers for raising such issues.
The most viable of these books for translation into English is Unternehmen Bundeswehr? This is a very serious book with essays from both individuals who have served in the Bundeswehr and well-known scholars who have studied it. The book includes sections on everything from “The Basis for Leadership in the Bundeswehr” and “Practice and Experience of Leadership in the Bundeswehr” to the “Bundeswehr and the Economy with Perspectives on Leadership in the Bundeswehr.”
One of the issues that has been present in the debate over German civil–military relations has been the question, “Is the occupation of a soldier the same as that of a civilian?” Everyone knows that the soldier has the added task of carrying a weapon and, under current conditions in Germany, the need to be ready to deploy abroad, but do these experiences help or hurt him or her from holding a high-level—or any level—civilian position. If so, in what way? Those struggling to deal with this question would be well advised to read the three chapters dealing with this topic. They are some of the most progressive and useful articles available on the topic.
The section on “Practice and Experience in the Leadership of the Bundeswehr” was also impressive. It included three chapters, on the topics of attractiveness of the Bundeswehr, the role of the family, and the need for a change in management style: These are all critical issues, sometimes ignored by the brass in the military, and the Bundeswehr is no exception.
The book on Kunduz has been available but presumably was not read by our military leaders prior to the recent problems in that city. Would reading this book have enabled the coalition to have prevented the takeover by the Taliban? It contains 42 small chapters on events in that region but probably not. However, if nothing else, it would have made it clear that the Bundeswehr faced serious problems in responding to the Taliban. In this case, my diplomatic experience suggests that even if it had been purchased by the Defense Attaché in Germany, it would have not been translated, and even if it were, it would probably not have been read. This is a relaxing book, one that one can spend 10 min or 1 hr at a time reading. It would be very useful to someone interested in understanding the role of German forces in northeast Afghanistan. The German forces were put through hell in many ways because of the failure of their own government to keep them supplied with up-to-date weapons and equipment.
All three of these books are useful for understanding the world that exists in the German Bundeswehr. The German military faces a number of problems as outlined in these books. In addition to its role in Afghanistan, it is a critical part of the NATO alliance. It is vital that the Pentagon understands the issues confronting the Bundeswehr. These books will help open the doors to understanding this critical component of forces in Europe, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world.