History UsefulNotes / WeAreNotTheWehrmacht

As a Reaction to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, in Feburary 2022 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the Bundeswehr would recieve an additional 100 Billion € and that from now on Germany would spend each year at least 2% of its GDP on the Bundeswehr to make the Bundeswehr ready to defend Germany again. For context: the planned military Budget of Germany for 2022 was ~50 Billion €. With now ~150 Billion €, Germany spends almost 4% of its GDP on the military and is now in 2022 the worlds 3rd largest military spender, spending more than Number 4 (Russia) and Number 5 (India) combined.

* '''Panzerfaust 3''' Disposable, recoilless anti-tank weapon, nowadays available with a number of different warheads.

'''We are not the Kriegsmarine - the Marine'''

Germany's Navy. This cute little branch (only 16k people) was actually the first part of the Bundeswehr to be deployed abroad, clearing mines in the Persian Gulf in 1991. Despite that, is has not seen any combat yet, apart from capturing some pirates. The ''Marine'' is a pure frigate navy; the last destroyers (Rommel, Mölders and Lütjens) were decommissioned at the turn of the millennium.

During peacetime, command of the Bundeswehr falls to the ''Bundesverteidigungsminister'' (secretary of defence), as of 2014, that is Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to hold the position. As a rule, German secretaries of defence do not remain in office for very long, it is plagued with personal and administrative scandals ranging from the absurd to the very serious.

* Among the 4 RotatingProtagonists of ''Literature/EncryptionStraffe'' the one nicknamed Pious One is a Bundeswehr special force operator on his way out when he entered the plot.

* Voluntary conscription. For those interested in how life was for the typical 18-year-old German male before TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. The typical duration is between 6 and 23 months.

The Bundeswehr is not especially popular with the German public. While other Forces around the globe might be the pride of their countries, the armed forces of Germany are rather seen as a necessary evil by most and as an unnecessary evil by quite a few. In Germany and its Medias, they (excluding fallen or traumatized soldiers) are usually portrayed as the ButtMonkey and usually portrayed as stupid and badly equipped. The Bundeswehr complains regularly about "the lack of support at home" for the soldiers in Afghanistan and other places. This basically means, that people, as mentioned above, pretty much disrespect the Bundeswehr.

While many former Wehrmacht members joined the Bundeswehr after its conception, it does not see itself as a continuation or replacement of it. Its tradition is, instead, based on the Prussian military reformers of the early 19th century and the German military resistance against UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Ideally, every soldier is supposed to be a model citizen in uniform, not a soldier separated from civilian life, in reality, members of the Bundeswehr are as politically diverse as the rest of the country, with two notable exceptions: The far left, which wouldn't join if they could, and the far right, which would join but isn't allowed to. While the conscription still existed, admitting right-wing political views was one of the best ways to prevent being drafted; today, even if some manage to enlist, being caught expressing those views is the fastest way to be dishonourably discharged.

[[folder: APCs and IFVs]]

[[caption-width-right:300:Well, they still made it [[TheWarOnTerror further east]] than their [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII fathers or grandfathers]]...]]

The Bundeswehr is not especially popular with the German public. While other Forces around the globe might be the pride of their countries, the armed forces of Germany are rather seen as a necessary evil by most and as an unnecessary evil by quite a few. In Germany and its Medias, they (excluding fallen or traumatized soldiers) are usually portrayed as the ButtMonkey and usually portrayed as stupid and badly equipped. The Bundeswehr complains regularly about "the lack of support at home" for the soldiers in Afgahnistan and other places. This basically means, that people, as mentioned above, pretty much disrespect the Bundeswehr.

It is mostly known, however, as the home of [=GSG-9=], Germany's elite counter-terrorism unit. Formed in response to the fiasco at the Munich Olympics in 1972, where Bundeswehr was not allowed to act inside Germany and the Bavarian state police had no clue how to deal with the situation, the [=GSG-9=] rose to fame by [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome freeing all 86 hostages from a hijacked Lufthansa plane in Somalia without any losses]]. [=GSG-9=] originally stood for ''Grenzschutzgruppe'' (border guard group) 9; nowadays and without border guard groups, it stands for nothing except their reputation.

* '''Skorpion''' M113-based vehicle designed to throw 600 anti-tank mines across the battlefield, laying a 50- by 1500-meter minefield in five minutes. Yes, really.

* '''Lütjens (Z103)-class destroyers''' Modified Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyed and the only ships named after some guys who fought in some war with a certain military the Bundeswehr is most certainly not affiliated with in any way whatsoever. Phased out during the turn of the century and well loved by the crews.

For some reason they still have an honest to god ''Sailing ship'' in their arsenal (the ''Gorch Fock'') which serves training purposes nobody is exactly sure about.[[note]]Incidentally, one of ''Gorch Fock'''s predecessors is now the United States Coast Guard Cutter ''Eagle'', also kept around for training purposes and because [[CoolShip it looks awesome]]. It is also one of the few ships built by ThoseWackyNazis that is still in service.;[[/note]] This got widespread attention during one of the more abstruse scandals involving - naturally - the resignation of the Defense Minister (over something else, but this was a contributing factor)

The Bundeswehr is not especially popular with the German public. While other Forces around the globe might be the pride of their countries, the armed forces of Germany are rather seen as a necessary evil by most and as an unnecessary evil by quite a few. In Germany and its Medias, they (excluding fallen or traumatized soldiers) are usually portrayed as the ButtMonkey and usually portrayed as stupid and badly equipped. The Bundeswehr complains regulary about "the lack of support at home" for the soldiers in Afgahnistan and other places. This basicly means, that people, as mentioned above, pretty much disrespect the Bundeswehr.

During the early years of the Bundeswehr (Adenauer was still chancellor), perhaps the biggest political scandal in post-war German history broke when an article in DER SPIEGEL under the (now oft alluded to) title "bedingt abwehrbereit"[[note]](only) conditionally ready to defend[[/note]] suggested that there were major problems with the Bundeswehr should war ever happen. Then minister of defense Franz Josef Strauß, a conservative of Bavaria and something of a larger than life figure accused the writer of the article of publishing classified documents and military secrets and a police raid was ordered and Rudolf Augstein (editor in chief of DER SPIEGEL) went to jail. While Adenauer initially protected Strauß from the ensuing public outcry and Strauß even spoke about an "abyss of treason" [[note]]Ein Abgrund an Landesverrat[[/note]], ultimately Adenauer had to backpedal, Strauß had to resign - naturally, [[RunningGag he was secretary of defense after all]] - and Augstein was released from prison. Strauß' political career seemed to be essentially dead by that point, but he eventually got back into the good graces of at least some Germans by his tenure as minister of the economy 1966-69 and eventually ran for chancellor (and lost in one of the nastiest political campaigns in post war German history) in 1980.

[[caption-width-right:300:Well, they still made it [[TheWarOnTerror further east]] than their [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII grandfathers]]...]]

* ''Literature/RedStormRising''. Well, the WarsawPact does invade West Germany. [[TookALevelInBadass They kick some serious ass.]]

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' features German Tank Destroyers on the Allied side, and at least one mission requires you to cross from Germany into Poland to destroy [[MnogoNukes some Soviet nukes]]. Skirmish battles allow you to fight as Germany, granting you the Tank Destroyer.

* '''MiG-29''' Inherited from the NVA, 24 of those were in service between 1990 and 2004, starring in dissimilar air combat training, scaring western air-to-air missile developers and shaming the Phantom crews. They have been sold to Poland (for one Euro per plane) in 2004.

The Luftwaffe is purely tactical air force, with fighters and fighter-bombers, but no strategic bombing capabilities. In other words, it's all [[TheBlitz Blitz]], but no Thunder, because no one thought it would be a good idea to give Germany too many offensive abilities. In case of World War 3, however, it would have access to UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower via nuclear sharing.

* '''Luchs''' Reconnaissance armoured fighting vehicle. It was the predecessor of the Fennek and the former pride of the armoured recon troops. Based on the Sd.Kfz 231 and 234 of something called the Wehrmacht. Being eerily quite when running, it is one of the few AFV in the world that can sneak up on you. it was phased out because it offered no resistance against mines and roadside IEDs.

The Luftwaffe is purely tactical air force, with fighters and fighter-bombers, but no strategic bombing capabilities. In other words, it's all [[TheBlitz Blitz]], but no Thunder, because no one thought it would be a good idea to give Germany too many offensive abilities. In case of World War 3, however, it would have access to PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower via nuclear sharing.

* '''[=PzH2000=]''' The new 155mm self-propelled howitzer. In use by Dutch and German forces in Afghanistan.

For some reason they still have an honest to god ''Sail ship'' in their arsenal (the Gorch Fock) which serves training purposes nobody is exactly sure about. This got widespread attention during one of the more abstruse scandals involving - naturally - the resignation of the Defense Minister (over something else, but this was a contributing factor)

** In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert 1]]'', the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces was a general of the alternative WWII Wehrmacht, since in the ''Red Alert'' [[TheVerse Verse]], the Soviets, and not the Germans, were the bad guys.

Bundeswehr basic training is focussed on living and fighting as a ''kleine Kampfgemeinschaft'' (small fighting community), usually squad sized, with the intention of forming strong bonds among the troops. Recruit squads are put under the care of a low-ranking [=NCO=] or officer candidate, taking the role of a reasonable older brother put in charge of his unruly siblings. The part of the stern parents is usually taken by the platoon leaders and the senior company NCO.