From Germany’s English-language paper The Local:
“The total number of military personnel will be reduced from more than 200,000 to 185,000, of which between 5,000 and 15,000 will be short-term voluntary recruits. Civilian staff numbers will be slashed from 76,000 to 55,000 under the plan, which is due to be completed by 2017 at the latest. The cuts are the biggest in the Bundeswehr’s history.
Some 10,000 soldiers will remain available on a permanent basis for action abroad.
Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière said 31 bases would be closed completely, including six with more than 1,000 personnel. A further 90 cases will face severe cuts, while 33 will have fewer than 15 soldiers or civilians, meaning they no longer qualify as bases. The former East Germany will be left with just five bases.
Just six of Germany’s 16 states will see no base closures, although every state will see at least some reduction in troop presence.
The most severely affected region will be the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, where eight of the 31 bases will be closed, reducing the number of military personnel from 9.2 to 5.4 per 1,000 civilian inhabitants.
Some of the most spectacular closures will occur in Baden-Württemberg, where a tank base will lose nearly 2,000 jobs. And at the Fürstenfeldbruck air base in Bavaria, 800 airmen and 700 civilian personnel will see their jobs cut.”
The full story is here.
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