Overview

• On 27 August, the cabinet backed a law to register young men for service that stresses voluntariness and makes duty more attractive by aligning pay with career soldiers.
• Bundeswehr pay examples show an 18-year-old Schütze would receive €2,706.99 gross (about €2,320.86 net), up from €1,837 gross previously.
• Implementation steps include letters to all 18-year-olds starting in 2026, mandatory responses for men, and compulsory musterings for men born after 2008 beginning in July 2027; women may volunteer.
• The government is keeping a personnel target of roughly 460,000 soldiers and reservists by 2030, as Union and SPD list the Wehrdienst law among priorities in their pledged ‘Herbst der Reformen’.
• Context to the push includes reports of a deadly 28 August strike on Kyiv that killed at least 18 and injured about 40, and a domestic debate sharpened by the Friedland case, where a 31-year-old suspect was ordered into psychiatric care after DNA findings.