By ShannonLee
I’m from the US but living in Germany currently, and it’s nice to listen to the radio without having to suffer the 1980’s all over again … or David Hasselhoff for that matter.
I listen to a lot of AFNetwork (American Forces Network). It broadcasts, Bloomberg, ABC Perspective, and Air Force News, et. al., aimed at US government civilians, service men and women and their families based overseas and on ships at sea.
On AFNetwork radio in Germany, every now and then the host will say, “AFNetwork, serving America’s Best.” I like that; like hearing that; like thinking that. I want to believe that we send our kids out to these wars with the best training and equipment possible. But, I was angry when we were told, “We start a war with the military we have, not the one we want.” To me, it is unthinkable that any country could send their best into harms’ way without giving them the best training and equipment they possibly could.
Apparently, this is an issue in Germany, too. Reinhold Robbe is the current Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag. He is a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) — the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party is very anti-war and does not support Germany’s presence in Afghanistan. Reinhold’s party may be against the “action” in Afghanistan, but he makes spontaneous visits to different barracks to ask soldiers how they are, what they need, and what they are doing.
On a visit to troops on February 18, he spoke with a group of soldiers who were just two days away from shipping out to Afghanistan. They told him that they were not prepared. They did not get to train in the vehicles they were to use in Afghanistan because all of the vehicles were already in use. Robbe was outraged and wrote the Ministry of Defense about this training deficiency. It was not the first time.
The soldiers shipped out anyway. Six weeks later, one of the soldiers Robbe had spoken with was dead. Killed in a Taliban ambush.
“Das macht mich nicht nur betroffen, sondern ein Stück weit auch ungehalten”, sagt Robbe. “Ich habe die Ausbildungsdefizite jahrelang angeprangert. Aber ich fühle mich wie ein Rufer in der Wüste.”
Translation: “Not only do I find this concerning, but also very angering,” says Robbe. “I have denounced the training deficits for years. But I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness.”
The German military and ruling government are very aware of the problem, but do not foresee an immediate solution. The Minister of Defense plans on “studying” the problem.
Fortunately, reports from German police trainers are helping to change public opinion. Spiegel reports that German police officers have called the Afghan police “Illiterate, Corrupt and Trigger-Happy.” Newsweek reported that Lieutenant General William Caldwell, head of the American police-training program, told President Obama, “It’s inconceivable, but in fact for eight years we weren’t training the police, all we did was give them a uniform.”
The current behavior of President Karzai is also making headline news in Germany. “Hamid Karzai Bites the Hand that Feeds Him” and “More Nasty Surprises To Come from Afghanistan” — from Spiegel Online — are not headlines that encourage public support for Germany’s presence in Afghanistan.
The images of flag-covered coffins have awakened the general public to the deficiencies of their military and the realities of the situation in Afghanistan. In the eyes of many, German soldiers are waging war and police officers are training in combat areas in Afghanistan without proper approval from the Bundestag (German Parliament). On February 26, the Bundestag approved an escalation in troops and a redefinition of the war from a “stabilization operation” to a “non-international armed conflict.” This approval caused an unprecedented in-session public protest and expulsion of a large number of representatives. The legality of the conflict will ultimately hinge on whether or not the German public beleive their country is truly “at war.”
Germany may have agreed to stay in Afghanistan until 2013, but federal law could cut that time short, leaving the United States’ already stretched military in a difficult position. The lack of Germany’s presence in Afghanistan could also pressure other countries to pull out, further stressing the US military and possibly turning public opinion in America against the war in Afghanistan. German reaction to this current crisis could have a profound effect on how America continues to wage war in Afghanistan.
Die Zeit Online has a German-language summary here. Spiegel Online has an English-language summary here.
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EPILOGUE
Two Army helicopters flew overhead as I finished writing this piece. The cursor blinks on my screen while I look into the sky and try to picture the young soldiers, our soldiers, and wonder where they are going, what they are thinking. It is their job to perform their tasks with the training and equipment they are given. But, it is our job as citizens to ensure our governments give them what is required to finish their mission — or to not send them at all. Much like the US in Iraq, Germany chose to send their troops into a war they did not need to wage. They sent them in unprepared and without proper equipment. And now they too must deal with flag-covered coffins.
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ShannonLee is a Kansas-born IT professional and business developer living with his wife and Chihuahua in Stuttgart, Germany. He is currently starting a German-based Web design business while dreaming of the chance to catch another perfect wave in Malibu. He blogs at The Moderate American, where you can leave comments for him.