Anyway, on that not big and not strong army:
German tank crews have of late been practicing with Volkswagen minibuses because as many as three in four of their Puma tanks are in the repair shop — or rather, they’re waiting endlessly to be repaired, owing to Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Ordering backpacks, bullet-proof vests, helmets, visors and all sorts of other gear can take years in the German army. About 20,000 job openings can’t be filled because so few young people want to enlist. Officers complain that standards are being lowered, and that new recruits are “fatter, weaker and dumber.”
This is all according to Hans-Peter Bartels, an ombudsman appointed by parliament to audit the country’s armed forces. Among his devastating conclusions this week was this simple observation: Germany’s army would currently be unable to contribute adequately to the collective defense of NATO, the Western alliance, if any member were attacked.
Yes, Germany should have an army able to fight the Russians. But I can't take the article author too seriously because he calls a Puma infantry fighting vehicle a "tank."
The Germans chose minibuses as Puma substitutes because the minibuses can carry the infantry squad that rides in the Puma.
How can Germany help defend NATO with the slightly ornery collection of civil servants they call an army?
How can people write "news" about things they simply don't understand?
UPDATE: This author has a good point and a way to see if Germany is serious about spending to meet the challenge of building the logistics to defend NATO:
Germany needs to be the key U.S. partner working on mastering this challenge. Here is why: The German ministry of defense estimates it will be 2035 before it reaches its 2% of gross domestic product spending commitment. The delay is not because Germany doesn’t have the money; it’s because the German military can’t efficiently absorb the massive increase in assets they would receive if Berlin met the original 2025 deadline. Over the interim decade, however, Germany should have the capacity to help build out the capabilities NATO needs to make Defender-Europe more credible.
Mind you, it is Germany's fault that their military is too weak to revive quickly. But it is a good point that meeting the goal on time might be a waste of money given the self-inflicted wounds of the German military.
But if the Germans aren't just defense freeloaders they'll be open to this kind of interim spending that NATO could say counts toward the spending goal until 2035.
