701. Germany's increased responsibility in international affairs is not without implications for the role and mission the Bundeswehr is assigned, the way it is structured and the equipment it is issued. Similarly, it is not without implications for the position the armed forces hold in the state and in society, or for how service personnel see their profession. It also has a bearing on relations between the public at large and the Bundeswehr, as it does on the standing and attractiveness of the armed forces. If the Bundeswehr is to accomplish its mission and take up its position in the state and in society it is essential that politicians and society as a whole reach a fundamental consensus and provide support.
INNERE FÜHRUNG (LEADERSHIP AND CIVIC EDUCATION)
702. The Bundeswehr is an army in a democracy. The concept of Innere Führung harmonizes the principles of freedom held by a democratic constitutional state and the principle of order and function that armed forces must observe to accomplish the mission assigned to them under the constitution.
703. The principles and fundamentals of Innere Führung combine the demands of the military mission and duty with the dignity and rights of the citizen. They are designed to balance the tensions that arise from the military obligations of a member of the armed forces and the rights and liberties of a citizen, Innere Führung is an integral part of every leadership activity in all domains and at all levels. It constitutes the fundamental principle of leadership and conduct, and as such pervades every aspect of service routine. Innere Führung leaves its mark on both the spirit and attitude prevalent in the Bundeswehr.
704. Innere Führung is practised by way of training, leadership, care and welfare, political education, military law and military discipline. In this way, service personnel learn about the political and legal masons for military service and are made to appreciate the purpose of the military mission, it promotes the integration of the Bundeswehr and its military personnel into the state and into society and helps foster appreciation of the Bundeswehr's role in the Alliance and collective security systems. When the principles of Innere Führung are observed, education and training make members of the armed forces more willing to perform their duties conscientiously, to assume responsibility and to cooperate with others; they also promote discipline and cohesion among the troops. The concept of Innere Führung takes our code of values and legal system as the basis for internal discipline within the armed forces and increases efficiency and professionalism in the Bundeswehr.
705. The model of the citizen in uniform stands for the citizen who is prepared to defend his country as a willing member of its armed forces and who assumes responsibility for the freedom and human dignity of others. He is a politically educated and responsible citizen who recognizes and is a firm advocate of the political causes, conditions and consequences of the military action he takes. This model is a guide and yardstick for leadership, education and training in the armed forces.
706. The concept of Innere Führung has made the Bundeswehr an integral and natural component of our state order and society. It is a successful concept for the comprehensive integration of armed forces into a democratic state. This is why it has become a model for the fledgeling democracies in Eastern Europe and Latin America when they consider how to rebuild their armed forces. It helps to preserve internal stability in these states.
Innere Führung and the model of the democratic citizen in uniform are hallmarks of the German Bundeswehr.
THE SELF-IMAGE OF BUNDESWEHR SERVICEMEN
707. The profession of Bundeswehr servicemen is changing. They we gradually acquiring a new self-image.
708. Bundeswehr servicemen are making a major contribution to completing the internal unity of Germany. They are helping the nation to grow together after decades of division. As citizens in uniform, they are enhancing confidence in the Bundeswehr as an army in a democracy.
709. By establishing and maintaining a vast army of contacts with the armed forces of our partners and friends in East and West, Bundeswehr servicemen are helping members of armies that were previously adversaries to understand each other better and to cultivate friendship. By doing so, the servicemen in the Bundeswehr are also making an important contribution towards European unity and stability. The new willingness to work together is reflected in the way personnel from different forces are donning the blue helmets of the United Nations and cooperating for world peace.
710. During the era of East-West confrontation, the United Nations was limited in its scope of action. While its attempts at peacemaking got off to a modest start, they were unable to proceed my further. Today, famine, poverty, destitution caused by refugee movements, violence and war in many parts of the world confront the United Nations with new challenges. Now that the Cold War is over, however, the United Nations has a new opportunity to effectively counter these threats to world peace and international security. This also involves servicemen performing their duty. Human dignity, the protection of which constitutes the core of military service, cannot be protected or defended on a purely national basis.
711. The change in the security environment also has spiritual and moral implications for the servicemen's self image. The serviceman of today and tomorrow must face the fact that the conditions under which he may be employed have radically changed. During the Cold War era, it was the logic of nuclear deterrence that determined the meaning of military service by preventing war; this self-image is now being broadened in a positive sense. War prevention is supplemented by active peace shaping. The soldier, sailor or airman remains the defender of freedom and peace. He must be able to right and, if necessary give his life to protect Germany and stand by others when Germany is called upon to honour its international obligations. This is the moral core of military service and is as true today as it ever was.
712. Today, however, our deliberations no longer centre on the task of averting a direct threat, our concern now is to relieve people and nations of need and danger, to rebuild destroyed states and put troublemakers in their place. Servicemen today are confronted personally with real human misery and danger to life and limb. Given the conditions that prevail in crisis-afflicted regions, even providing humanitarian aid has its risks. The boundaries between peacekeeping and peace enforcement often fluctuate; there may be no clew dividing fine between self-defence -and combat operations to get humanitarian aid through to the people it is intended for. The task of defending Germany and its allies is supplemented by that of providing protection, furnishing aid and helping to build a base for humanitarian operations and peace missions.
713. In the oath sworn by regular and temporary-career volunteers and in the solemn pledge made by conscripts, Bundeswehr personnel promise to loyally serve the Federal Republic of Germany and bravely defend the rights and freedom of the German people. The oath and solemn pledge place members of the armed forces under a moral obligation to defend the code of values set forth in the Basic Law. International law and human rights are major components of this code. It forms the basis for the simple laws, including the Legal Status of Military Personnel Act, on which a serviceman's obligation to be obedient is legally founded and limited by law.
714. In our parliamentary democracy, military personnel can rest assured that the decisions taken by the executive are lawful and are open to public security and judicial review. Any orders they receive from their superiors must be within the law. The serviceman can therefore be certain that he will only be employed after thorough and conscientious consideration has been given to a situation and only if there is a sound legal basis for such action. To this end, he will be given the best equipment and training possible. Combat will remain the "ultima ratio". Fear and danger to life and limb must not, however, prevent a serviceman from doing his duty. This applies both in peacetime and in war; it applies to the defence of Germany and its allies as well as to United Nations peace missions and humanitarian operations.
TRAINING
715. Training is the primary task of the aimed forces in peacetime. Only operationally ready armed forces can meet all the requirements and withstand under extreme stress.
Training involves imparting general, scientific and military knowledge and skills and taking steps to ensure that service personnel develop the attitudes and behaviour they need for action. The education and training that officers, NCOs and all other enlisted personnel receive are geared to the Bundeswehr's mission and requirements and are provided in a variety of training and assignment cycles and special fields.
One aim is to give service personnel the character and professionalism they need to discharge their respective duties in the armed forces in Germany, in the alliances and in international cooperation. Another is to qualify temporary-career volunteers with extended terms of enlistment for civilian occupations and help them make the transition to civilian working life at the end of their military careers. Military professionalism and the specialist qualifications that will be useful in civilian occupations enhance both the prestige and attractiveness of the military profession.
716. Training curricula must be based on the conditions likely to be encountered in an operational environment. They must, however, also take account of social change.
The expansion in the Bundeswehr's field of tasks and the integration of members of the former National People's Army call for more effort to be put into training and new methods to be applied. At the same time, when there is tension between a severely reduced immediate threat and new risks and conflicts on the international front, political education and the teaching of history, the provision of detailed information and help in appreciating the need for military service in the new political environment, as well as the use of new methods tailored to the requirements of adults are highly important.
While there is a necessity to make more use of simulators and computers in military training and merge training facilities when resources are scarce and the environment is in need of protection, exercises will continue to be necessary in the future.
717. Courses of study at the Federal Armed Forces Universities in Hamburg and Munich are an integral part of training for line officers with extended terms of enlistment. Students can choose from fifteen university and three technical college courses in the humanities and social sciences, economics, engineering and science.
The Federal Armed Forces universities celebrated their 20th anniversary in 1993. The new and still unique concept of curricular and fixed-term trimester courses -geared to specific areas of occupation, offering degrees comparable with those awarded by civilian universities and recognized in civilian working life, and conducted in a campus setting - has stood the test of time. The officers study as service personnel according to the principle of freedom in science, research and teaching. They receive their basic and continuation training as military leaders and superiors at the various service and branch schools as well as at the Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College. The practice of combining academic qualifications and experience in military leadership has proved to be of particular worth for civilian managerial occupations.
718. The Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg is the Bundeswehr's highest-level military institute of training and education. It is here that line officers qualify to become field-grade officers and receive their continuation training in a variety of specialties, including general staff or higher naval staff training. The college has in recent years become more and more of a forum for discussing security and military policy. Courses and seminars are offered for managerial staff from all spheres of society in Germany. The command and general staff officer training courses are attended by officers from allied and friendly states with which Germany has concluded training agreements, and over the past few years by a growing number of officers from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The college is also used for International bilateral and CSCE-level talks and seminars.
719. The numerous and diverse international ties the Federal Republic of Germany maintains calls for the training of executive personnel capable of effectively representing Germany's national interests on the international stage by virtue of their interdepartmental understanding of security-related issues and contexts. On behalf of the Federal Government and under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Federal College for Security Policy Studies is highly Instrumental in providing such a service, staging combined advanced training courses for military command personnel, executive staff from other Federal and Länder departments, politicians, scientists, economists, journalists and leaders of society.
720. Officer specialists are personnel who have proved outstanding NCOs in their services and thus qualified for this career. They have been selected for specialist functions in certain military occupational specialty (MOS) sequences and have undergone appropriate advanced training. The aim of their training is to give them a high degree of specialist competence in their fields. The idea is also for officer specialists to be capable of assuming full command of a sub-unit or deputy command of a company-size unit or small agency and exercising disciplinary power.
721. The NCO is the most immediate and most important person a young serviceman relates to in everyday duty and in operations. His ability and character are two of a number of factors that chiefly determine the attitude young servicemen adopt, the lengths to which their units are willing to go to accomplish their missions and the image conscripts have of the Bundeswehr.
The Bundeswehr's changed role is also the basis for NCO training. In the first part of his training, the future NCO acquires the technical military skills, the so-called "basic tools". This is the foundation for his continuation training: The main skills he acquires are those of working methodically and exercising leadership in keeping with modem principles by means of practical training. The aim of this training is to enable the NCO to train his men in a way that resembles conditions they will encounter in real combat, encourage them and motivate them, lead them and educate them.
To be accepted as military superiors, NCOs must be masters in the art of leadership and knowledgeable in their fields. While the Air Force and Navy train their NCOs on a centralized basis at their NCO schools in Appen and Plön respectively, the Army assigns its NCOs not only to NCO demonstration companies and platoons, but also to branch schools and the Army Non-Commissioned Officer schools in Münster, Weiden in the Upper Palatinate, Lahnstein and Delitzsch.
722. Numerous supplementary courses have been held at the service officer and NCO schools for all the officers and NCOs from the former NPA who have been taken over by the Bundeswehr. While the purpose of these courses was primarily to allow these personnel to acquire the specialist and leadership qualifications they would need as superiors in an army in a democracy, they also helped the all-German armed forces to grow together.
723. Cooperation with forces from other countries increases the importance of basic and continuation training for international tasks. The Bundeswehr mainly helps in training the armed forces of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the aim being to integrate them into democratic and constitutional states and familiarize them with western security structures.
724. With the Bundeswehr now having a broader role to play, above all operations within the scope of United Nations peace missions, it is necessary to develop a new kind of training. These operations place the severest of demands on the ability of servicemen - especially command personnel - to cope with physical and mental stress in extreme situations; they also call for diplomatic and social skills. Training in the Bundeswelm will take account of these new challenges by adapting the curriculum at the Bundeswehr schools.
UN Training Courses for Command Personnel
In addition, the Bundeswehr is cooperating closely with other nations that already have a wealth of experience in UN operations. From 1994 onwards, military command personnel from the Bundeswehr will attend courses held at UN centres in other countries, the NATO school in Oberammergau and national UN courses.
725. The basic and extension training of relevance for civilian occupations that temporary-career personnel undergo during their specialist military training is of great importance for NCOs in particular, as it qualifies them for such occupations and makes it easier for them to find jobs in civilian working life at the end of their military careers. Wherever possible, training in the armed forces is designed to allow personnel not only to attain the objectives of their military training, but also to qualify for civilian occupations. The guidelines for specialist military training are therefore based on the specifications set by the civilian sector for basic and extended vocational training.
726. Vocational advancement is the core element of the welfare services provided for temporary-career volunteers, it includes not only counselling on professional matters and vocational advancement during their tens of enlistment as well as assistance in acquiring academic and professional qualifications entitling holders to go to a technical college or university or in becoming journeymen or academics at the end of and after their military service, but also assistance in numerous other ways, all of which are intended to help former service personnel integrate into civilian working life.
Instruction takes place today at twenty-seven Federal Armed Forces schools of general vocational education. Personnel attending them schools can acquire virtually all the leaving certificates generally recognized under the public education system. The Bundeswehr vocational advancement service works closely with the appropriate civilian offices in matters concerning vocational training. It has forty-one agencies, seven of them in the new Länder.
727. The Bundeswehr vocational advancement service is assisting the Federal institute for Employment in providing retraining and continuation training for members of the former NPA who were not taken met by the Bundeswehr. So far, more than 12,000 former NPA military personnel have attained civilian vocational qualifications.
SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE TRANSITION
728. Care and welfare services help to offset the particular strains and circumstances caused by the singular nature of military service. They are provided for all service personnel, irrespective of status, assignment and unit or agency affiliation. This therefore also applies without exception to reservists with a military status.
729. On its way to establishing its new structure, the Bundeswehr has undergone the most profound transformation in its history. Some 5,000 formations, units and agencies are affected by organizational changes, and about 330 agencies are being disbanded. Almost a quarter of the Bundeswehr's garrisons in the old Länder are being relinquished or the number of personnel employed at them more than halved. Having risen to 521,000 on account of the integration of former NPA personnel on 3 October 1990, the number of personnel in the armed forces will be reduced to 370,000 by the end of 1994. Substantial cuts will also be made in the number of civilians working for the Bundeswehr, although this measure will take more time to implement.
730. Until 1991, an average of 70,000 regulars and temporary-career volunteers were transferred each year; in many cases, these reassignments involved a change of station. As pan of the restructuring of the Bundeswehr, there has been a sharp rise in the number of transfers. In 1992, around 91,000 servicemen with extended terms of enlistment were transferred, 42,000 of whom had to move to a new garrison. In 1993, the number of transfers peaked at 117,000, with 62,000 of these involving a change of station.
Transfers always have a profound impact on the personal lives and plans of those affected. The Federal Minister of Defence, speaking to the German Bundestag on 11 October 1991, therefore referred to the necessity of carrying out the restructuring of the Bundeswehr in a manner that is socially acceptable for those affected.
Following the conclusion of the restructuring measures, it is likely that them will be considerably fewer transfers.
Reduction of German Armed Forces to Authorized Strength
PERSONNEL REDUCTIONS
731. It was not possible to attain the reduction targets for the Bundeswehr on schedule, in keeping with the structural requirements and in a socially acceptable manner solely by means of retirements, the termination of contracts and a reduction in personnel recruitment. New legal and pay arrangements therefore had to be made for all the status groups - service personnel, professional civil servants and government employees.
732. On 1 January 1992, the Military Personnel Strength Act entered into force. It makes a major contribution to the efforts being made to reduce military personnel figures in a manner largely compatible with the structural requirements and allows the armed forces to achieve the target reduction figure in keeping with task requirements and without forfeiting any of their operational readiness. It provides the following options:
* The special rank-related retirement ages for regular service personnel will be lowered by one year over the period from 1993 to 1998;
* Regular servicemen may take early retirement over the period from 1992 to 1994;
* As of 1992, the terms of employment of regular service personnel may be transformed into those of temporary career volunteers, with a maximum term of enlistment of 20 years;
* As of 1992, the periods of service of temporary-career volunteers may be shortened.
With the exception of the lowering of the special retirement age, application of the other measures is conditional upon a serviceman submitting an application. Applications will only be granted if they are in the interest of the Bundeswehr. Before a serviceman is allowed to take early retirement, his case must be examined to see whether he could be suitably employed in the public administration. Continuing employment will take priority over early retirement.
733. The Alternative Employment Promotion Act has been implemented in order to improve the chance of service personnel seeking further employment in the public administration. This act contains both financial incentives and career-related legal arrangements that assist candidates in the transition and make it easier.
734. The Defence Civil Service Early Retirement Act of 20 December 1991 is helping the number of civilians employed by the Bundeswehr to be reduced and brought into line with the newforcesstructures in a socially acceptable manner. A deadline has been set by which professional civil servants over the age of 55 can apply for retirement. They will not be granted early retirement, however, unless there is no chance of their finding alternative employment in their own or in other administrations or they cannot be expected to take up such employment. If professional civil servants are granted early retirement, they will receive the same retirement benefits as they would do if they had worked up to the age of 65.
735. As far as salaried employees and wage-earners are concerned, the measures designed to cut the size of the staff and workforce in a socially acceptable manner are set forth in the 30 November 1991 pay agreement. Although its prime aim is to secure jobs in the public service, it does allow employees over the age of 55 to retire, in which case they will receive transition pay.
HOUSING SUPPORT AND ALLOCATION
736. When an individual is transferred and has to move to a new garrison, the inconvenience for him and his family is compounded by the difficult housing situation. The consequences of the restructuring measures place a great strain above all on the families of the servicemen and civilian employees. They are increasingly worried that they will not be able to find a place to live that meets the needs of their family and is affordable. The situation is especially difficult in the new Länder. Them has been distinct drop in the willingness of personnel to move to new garrisons with their families. The loyalty and discipline with which dependants cope with the upheaval thus merit all the more respect.
737. Additional welfare measures have had to be taken for military and civilian personnel affected by transfers. Flexible arrangements have been made, especially with an eye to the situation of the families.
As far as possible, the housing situation was taken into account when deciding where to station units. Although the situation continues to be critical, it was possible in 1993 to allocate dedicated dwellings with a limited basic rent to Bundeswehr personnel. In some cases, housing vacated by foreign aimed forces will be made available to the Federal Armed Forces Housing Support and Allocation Organization.
738. If military or civilian personnel are transferred less than five year before the end of their terms of enlistment or employment, their families can await the transfer and then move to where they would like to live when the terms of enlistment or employment are over. Military and civilian personnel assigned posts for up to three years can, if they wish, keep their previous dwelling and maintain a separate household at their new station; they will be granted separation allowances. Rent subsidies have increased substantially since January 1992. This has made it cheaper for military and civilian personnel transferred to areas in which housing is particularly expensive to find somewhere temporary to live. Reciprocity agreements have been concluded that allow military and civilian personnel opting for employment with a Land administration to keep their houses or flats on the same terms.
739. Nevertheless, this financial assistance does not alter the fact that it is necessary to create affordable housing suitable for families in towns and cities where Bundeswehr personnel are employed. This is especially urgent in the new Länder. Since 1993, therefore, funds have been made available from the defence budget for the procurement of new housing in the new Länder.
IMPROVEMENT OF BARRACKS INFRASTRUCTURE
740. Another urgent infrastructure task is to improve the quality of the accommodation for service personnel in barracks in the new Länder. The great number of buildings in need of repair, the regional differences in construction capacity and the limited funds available mean that it is not possible to renovate all the installations simultaneously. Top priority has thus been given to improving the sanitary conditions in the billets and in the messing and recreation facilities.
The poor state of repair of many facilities cannot be remedied with simple, short-term measures. Interim solutions will be unavoidable pending the completion of new buildings. Here, too, it is obvious that omissions of decades of mismanagement cannot be remedied within a short period of time.
741. Special action is being taken to renovate the enlisted men's clubs in the new Länder. 135 million DM were made available for this purpose in 1992, with a further 30.6 million DM being provided in 1993. New recreation offices have been established to improve the range of off-duty activities available to conscripts. The introduction of leisure passes, which entitle the conscript to attend forthcoming off-duty and educational activities and use local transport at a reduced rate, has so far only been possible in a few cases in the new Länder because of the economic situation of the municipalities.
742. With this pack-age of measures, the Federal Government has paved the way for the Bundeswehr's military and civilian personnel and their families to be given the support and assistance they need. This also helps to enhance the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr as an employer.
SYSTEM OF MILITARY JUSTICE
743. The Bundeswehr's system of military justice supports the Bundeswehr in the accomplishment of its mission. Servicemen acquire a knowledge of the law and a sense of what is right and wrong through instruction and the application of the law by their superiors. The duties of each and every superior include providing information on jurisdiction and its evolution in the sphere of military law, in particular with regard to the principles and provisions of international law in armed conflicts.
Within the Armed forces, the system of military justice has at its disposal a tool - the Military Disciplinary Code - to ensure that duty is performed and discipline And military order are maintained in the armed forces. The Military Disciplinary Code regulates the procedures for both the recognition of outstanding service by means of citations and the punishment of disciplinary offences by taking disciplinary Action. Here, a distinction has to be made between the disciplinary jurisdiction of disciplinary superiors and the execution of this jurisdiction on the one hand, and disciplinary court proceedings before military courts on the other. Nonjudicial disciplinary punishments can be imposed by disciplinary superiors. The military courts, organized into the Disciplinary and Complaints Courts (which are in the Ministry of Defence sector) and the Federal Administrative Court, are responsible for imposing disciplinary punishments on personnel convicted of serious disciplinary offences and for deciding on appeals against certain other disciplinary punishments. The punishment of criminal offences under the Military Penal Code is a responsibility of ordinary jurisdiction.
At the same time, the Military Complaints Regulations provide the "citizen in uniform" with a system of legal protection with the help of which military personnel are able to assert their rights. The decisions taken by superiors in matters concerning complaints are subject to the control of the military courts as far As their substance is concerned.
Organization of the Military Courts
744. The military courts, which are responsible for disciplinary court proceedings against military personnel and for proceedings involving grievances lodged by military personnel, currently comprise two disciplinary and complaints courts with 18 divisions and two military affairs divisions of the Federal Administrative Court. The function of a disciplinary attorney for the armed forces at the disciplinary and complaints courts - a function which is known from general public sector disciplinary law - is performed by civil servants who are qualified to exercise the functions of a judge. They represent the initiating authorities that can institute disciplinary proceedings -divisions and echelons above division -, bring charges against military personnel in disciplinary proceedings before the disciplinary and complaints courts and enforce the disciplinary punishments imposed by the military courts. These tasks are performed by the legal advisers to the commands in addition to their regular dudes. In proceedings before the Military Affairs Divisions of the Federal Administrative Court, the initiating authorities and the Federal Minister of Defence are represented by the Disciplinary Attorney General for the Armed Forces.
745. A total of 110 legal advisers are today employed at units and agencies of the armed forces from division level upwards as personal advisers to the commander on official legal matters. They also accompany Bundeswehr support forces in operations abroad. A total of 48 civilian teachers of law are employed at the armed forces schools and academies. The legal advisers and teachers of law give instruction in the fields of public and constitutional law, military law, international law and United Nations law.
The military courts, the legal advisers and disciplinary attorneys for the aimed forces, the Disciplinary Attorney General for the Armed Forces and the teachers of law together form the autonomous organizational component known as "the system of military justice in the Bundeswehr".
CHAPLAIN SERVICE
746. The chaplain service is the contribution made by the churches, and desired and encouraged by the state, to ensuring the free practice of religion in the armed forces. The special organizational form of the chaplain service is due to the peculiarities of military service. The lawmakers have granted military personnel the right to pastoral care, and ensure that an appropriate framework exists.
747. Every religious community is entitled to establish a chaplain service for the military personnel belonging to it. A permanent chaplain service currently exists for Catholic and Protestant servicemen on the basis of agreements between state and church. The state attends to the organizational side of the chaplain service and hears the costs. The clergymen are normally full-time chaplains with the status of temporary civil servants.
748. The state and the church respect each other when it comes to their joint responsibility for protecting the practice of religion on a voluntary basis. The Bundeswehr views the chaplain service as a spiritual service provided by the churches for their members. It is firmly established in the lives of military personnel.
749. The Bundeswehr attaches great importance to ensuring that military conduct has a sound ethical and moral foundation. The churches' chaplain service makes major contributions to the religious and moral orientation of the individual serviceman, especially on issues where the serviceman has to make a decision based on a matter of conscience. Character guidance training serves as a forum. The work of the military chaplains is not influenced by any state directives, and is performed on behalf of and under the supervision of the churches. It is held in high esteem and supported by military superiors.
Organizaton of the Chaplain Service
750. In the new Länder, the Catholic chaplain Service is operating on the basis of the agreements that have been in force in the past. It cannot do without the support provided by local clergymen of the Eastern German dioceses who, in their capacity as part-time garrison chaplains, also come under the control of the Catholic Bishop for the Federal Armed Forces.
751. The eight regional protestant churches in Eastern Germany haw not yet adopted the 1957 Chaplain Service Agreement. The Federal Minister of Defence has agreed to allow parish priests to perform the chaplain service for protestant servicemen for a transitional period. The discussion on the future of the chaplain service in the united Germany is to be respected as a dialogue and decision-making process within the church. It is in the interests of the Bundeswehr that the proximity and contactability of the chaplains for the servicemen is accepted as being as important as is stated in the Chaplain Service Agreement.
752. In the years ahead, new challenges for the armed forces will entail particular burdens for servicemen and their families. Reorganizations and the wider spectrum of Bundeswehr tasks will have a direct impact on their personal sphere. As a result, the chaplain service will become more important. For many servicemen and their families, the proximity, of the garrison chaplain in the vicinity of their home towns is of great importance. This also applies to the presence of chaplains when military personnel are serving abroad. Protestant and Catholic chaplains are also entrusted by their military bishops with the task of providing pastoral care to servicemen during international Bundeswehr operations. Them, the services they render are indispensable.
THE BUNDESWEHR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
753. In all its training and exercise activities, the Bundeswehr observes Federal, Land and local government environmental legislation and international agreements. It keeps the environmental impact of noise caused by aircraft and gunnery practice and air pollution to a minimum and makes every effort to avoid permanently disturbing the balance of nature.
754. The Bundeswehr pursues an active policy of environmental protection in its training and operating routines. Thus, for instance, the "Concept of Environmental Protection in the Federal Armed Forces" sets forth the objectives and tasks associated with environmental protection in the 1990s.
A new concept for exercises will reduce their impact on people and the environment. Only a few mechanized combat troop exercises are still held in open country; most take place at training areas. This will in the future reduce damage to the countryside and crops and reduce delays to road traffic. In addition, the environment will be preserved by making greater use of the railway system for transportation to and from training areas. Gunnery simulators installed at combat manoeuvre training centres will ensure that training is realistic; computers will be used to assess performances in combat training; the noise of gunfire will be avoided. Landscaping, forestry, geological and ground preparation measures will be taken to improve the ecological state of training areas. The residual pollution loads at sites earmarked for long-term me by the Bundeswehr will be cleaned up to the extent required.
755. The negative impact of firing and exercise activities at training areas will be drastically diminished by the adoption of a package of measures. The intensity with which training areas are used will be reduced as far as possible. Buffer zones will be established to afford protection against noise and dust emissions; areas where the impact is particularly heavy will be left unused from time to time. Military vehicle movements will take place partly on paved routes so as to prevent soil compaction and erosion. The number of ranges used, particularly for large-calibre weapons that cause a lot of noise, will be reduced.
756. The negative impact of noise caused by aircraft, gunfire and motor vehicles has been reduced considerably by the implementation of passive noise suppression measures, both of an organizational nature, such as limiting scheduled range firing periods and raising minimum flying altitudes, and of a technical nature, such as erecting noise suppression facilities at airfields and similar structures over firing ranges. Flight gunnery and driving simulators also have a noise-suppressing effect. Bundeswehr pilots clock up more thin 40,000 hours of practice each year in flight simulators in Germany and abroad. By 1995, the number of hours flown in combat aircraft at altitudes ranging from 300 to 450 in will haw fallen in Germany by almost two thirds, compared with the 1990 figure. In addition, some 60 percent of tank driver training will he conducted on driving simulators; this is equivalent to a distance of 100,000 kilometres a year.
757. In 1990, the FMoD established the "Environmental Protection in the Bundeswehr" division, assigning it the role of a central control element. Branches and points of contacts to deal with this task were also set up in the ministerial staffs and directorates. The Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement has established a central point of contact for matters regarding environmental protection: the "Operational Safety and Environmental Protection" subdivision. At office, command and unit level, there are environmental protection sections, environmental protection officers and NCOs and environmental protection commissioners. In the territorial defence administration, special environmental protection components have been set up at military district and garrison administrative office level, with their activities focused on environmental protection in real estate affairs. Local environmental inspections are conducted at all Bundeswehr sites to check that the state and operation of 211 systems and installations of environmental relevance comply with legislation. In 1992, more than 1,000 civilian employees and 400 military personnel attended courses on environmental protection.
758. In the medical service, full-time medical occupational health officers, medical occupational safety officers and military district hygienists perform functions related to environmental medicine. In 1992, three mobile measuring units for hazardous materials were commissioned; these were followed in 1993 by two mobile measuring units for noise. Their functions include recording and assessing the noise emitted by die 551 Bundeswehr and guest force firing ranges.
759. In 1988, the Bundeswehr drew up and published a list of the hazardous materials it handles. Hazardous materials are being replaced wherever possible by other substances and materials that have less impact on the environment. The list of hazardous materials in the Bundeswher is updated each year. Before new hazardous materials can be used by the Bundeswehr, permission has to be obtained from a special test centre.
To handle the many kinds of waste the Bundeswehr produces, steps haw been taken for years under waste utilization programmes to establish the infrastructure, manpower and procedures required to dispose of them in an orderly manner The order to avoid and recycle waste has been issued in an attempt to drastically reduce the cost of waste disposal.
760. For decades, the armed forces have rendered assistance in dealing with environmental emergencies in Germany and abroad. Military personnel have helped people hit by flood, oil and snow disasters, major forest fires and storm damage and supported the civilian agencies and relief organizations involved.
761. The mount of money the Bundeswehr has spent each year on environmental protection has risen from some 500 million DM in the mid-1980s to 1.2 billion DM. In the future, too, quite a lot will have to be spent on the cleaning up the legacy of environmental damage and aligning environmental standards in the new Länder.
THE BUNDESWEHR AND THE PUBLIC
762. Policies in a free democracy must be approved by the majority of the population. The more citizens an base their judgement on factual information, the more able they are to play a responsible put in the policy making process.
763. Providing information on matters relating to security policy has become more important it must help to firmly foot the need for the state task of nations defence in people's minds and give them convincing reasons for the Bundeswehr's broadened mission and future role. The Bundeswehr thus provides comprehensive, straightforward, timely and credible information. Communication has a key function in promoting mutual understanding and trust. The aim of public information activities must be to render decision-making processes in the field of Security transparent and make them appreciable for everyone.
764. The Bundeswehr's public information activities present and elucidate decisions made within the realm of security policy and the situation of the armed forces. They thus assist the Federal Government in honouring its obligation to keep the public informed, enhance public acceptance of the Bundeswehr and its role and thereby help to reduce prejudices. In addition, they can be used to show how attractive a military career can be and back up measures to obtain the numbers of qualified recruits needed to meet structural requirements. The objective of Bundeswehr public information activities is to create confidence and to seek the favour of the public by communicating with them.
765. Dialogue, talking to people face to face, is the element on which the Bundeswehr's public information activities centre. Trust and confidence can only grow if security and defence policy and the interests of the Bundeswehr are put across in a way that ordinary people can understand.
The best way to form an opinion is by seeing things for oneself. Visiting field units and agencies of both the armed forces and the Federal Defence Administration is therefore the most effective means of obtaining information. Everyone is entitled to do so.
766. Now that more information is provided than can be handled, it frequently fails to reach its target groups. It is therefore necessary to adopt a broad, offensive approach, making use of the entire range of advanced information media and means and methods of communication.
Under the general concept known as "Bundeswehr 2000 Public information Activities", an outline and steering concept has bun created for the tasks of communication, press and public relations activities, recruiting and troop information. Its activities are directed both outwards, i.e. at the public, and inwards, i.e. at the Bundeswehr itself.
The Bundeswehr logo in conjunction with the slogan "WIR SIND DA" (we are there) ensures that all public information measures have a uniform appearance. At the same time, it also signals the presence and self-confidence of the Bundeswehr. It is designed to strengthen the population's confidence in their armed forces.
This concept sets forth the principal information that is to be provided, the conceptual policy and the communication strategy. It will run for a period of four to five years.
767. By mounting information campaigns in newspapers and magazines as well as on the television, it is possible to provide answers to the questions that the public have on security policy and the Bundeswehr following the recent radical changes in the security environment. In addition, military service and the accomplishments of the Bundeswehr are acknowledged. Moreover, the Bundeswehr is portrayed as an attractive place to work. The information provided is designed to contribute to the process of public opinion-making and to satisfy the public's need for more information.
768. Right from the start, the campaign met with an exceptionally positive response. Surveys have shown that in the autumn of 1993, the television spots and advertisements in the press did wry well in comparison with competing information campaigns by third parties. The television spots reached around eight million citizens, the advertisements around eleven million. In the opinion of many experts in the advertising industry, the Bundeswehr has succeeded in a achieving a great effect with a very low investment.
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