You painted a pessimistic picture of the outlook for German rearmament (“German army struggles to get Gen Z recruits ‘ready for war’”, Report, March 15) but the analysis seemed to be based on rather flimsy evidence.
A “self-described Marxist” appeared to have been chosen (or self-selected) as spokesperson for Generation Z as a whole. But his scepticism was not reflected in the rest of the reporting. Indeed the survey results cited were actually surprisingly positive.
As much as a third of those aged between 18 and 29 actively supported conscription — rising to 58 per cent of the population as a whole. I wonder what the percentages would be in the US — a country where, traditionally, wealthier citizens (notably the current president) have in the past found all sorts of creative ways to evade their military obligations.
Peacetime dropout rates have been high in many militaries, but that was then and this is now.
Of course, it will take time for the European democracies to adjust themselves to the new geopolitical realities. These societies, unlike some others, still bear the mental scars of wars fought on their territories in the not-so-distant past.
Most of those in Gen Z understandably did not have military training on their bucket lists; however, I believe that many of them also realise that the Russian threat in Ukraine and elsewhere is not a quarrel in a “far away country” between people of whom they know nothing — to quote Chamberlain at the time of Munich — but a clear and present danger to themselves, their families and their way of life. Let’s not write them off.
Andrew Mitchell
London W4, UK
