NATO needs them

Europe’s soldiers keep quitting, just when NATO needs them

Western allies weigh up conscription or national service, as the threat from Russia grows.

BY LAURA KAYALI AND JOSHUA POSANER

It’s no longer so much about recruiting new soldiers as it is about persuading existing troops not to quit.

This week, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu presented a talent retention plan to incentivize military personnel to remain in uniform.

That comes a few days after an annual report submitted to the German parliament showed that in 2023, some 1,537 soldiers left the Bundeswehr, reducing it to 181,514 personnel.

“Those conversations now exist in all capitals, in all democracies that have professional armies without conscription,” Lecornu said on Monday, mentioning the United Kingdom and the United States.

“At NATO meetings, we can talk about equipment, but now we also talk about ... the level of retention,” he added.  

As Europe rearms in reaction to the war in Ukraine, countries such as Croatia are mulling bringing back conscription. Others, like Denmark, plan to expand it to include women. Germany scrapped conscription in 2011, but with many in the military ageing out of service there’s renewed discussion over some kind of national service system being reintroduced.

For countries relying on professional armies, the challenge is to make the armed forces attractive — something that's difficult to do in times of low unemployment, fierce competition from the private sector and widespread use of remote working.

Not only about money

In France, military personnel are staying in the armed forces on average one year less than they used to. In the U.K., there’s been an annual hiring shortfall of 1,100 troops — equivalent to two infantry battalions — even though the government contracted out recruitment to private firm Capita.

Money does play a part in getting people to stay. One of the French plan’s flagship measures is to boost retirement pensions by integrating bonuses; salaries are also being increased. But the problem is that the terms of service just aren’t that attractive, with chronic overtime, months-long absences from home and missed recuperation periods commonplace.

“The issue is not recruiting but retention, we need to retain also families,” Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the U.S. Navy’s chief of naval operations, said at a conference in Paris earlier this year. 

In Poland, the new government earlier this year announced pay hikes of about 20 percent in an effort to retain troops. The minimum monthly salary for a soldier is rising from 4,960 złoty (€1,150) to 6,000 złoty. In response to the growing threat from Russia, the Polish military has grown from 95,000 in 2015 to 215,000 this year.

The French plan includes help finding housing and accessing healthcare and childcare. Couples who both work within the armed forces ministry, even if one is a civilian, will be able to transfer posts together.

"I'd rather have fewer recruitments to improve retention than to go on a recruitment spree in which the number of people retained are constantly falling," Lecornu said.

In Germany, as part of efforts to beef up national defense, the government wants to get its armed forces headcount to 203,000 by the early 2030s — but recruitment is only growing slowly.

The Bundestag’s special commissioner for the armed forces, Eva Högl, has said that reinstating some form of conscription is one way to turn things around, but targeting women is a more obvious move to arrest the decline since potential there is “far from exhausted,” the lawmaker wrote.

Legislation passed last year seeks to make conditions more attractive, including more support for childcare and increased retirement pensions.

There aren’t just problems with the hours, but also basic infrastructure. "When I visit the troops, I no longer hear that helmets and protective vests are missing — but lockers," wrote Högl in the annual report.

According to Högl, fixing up barracks and military facilities will cost around €50 billion — equivalent to half the total special fund the government created to update its military forces in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.