German Commanders Order Troops to Imagine “Bang” Noise from Gunfire
The lack of spending on military defense across Europe is taking its toll as troops in Germany have been told to imagine the sound of gunfire during training when munitions are scarce to nonexistent.
According to a Wall Street Journal report in early June (subscription required), members of Germany’s Light Infantry Battalion 413 near the Baltic Sea coast reported last year that they didn’t have enough equipment — anti-tank weapons, sniper rifles or vehicles — to simulate battle.
When it became clear they didn’t have enough munitions, they were told to “imagine” the bangs instead
The shortage of military equipment and munitions is not an isolated problem to Germany. The whole of Europe seems to suffer the same malady as President Donald Trump pointed out most recently in an address at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s new headquarters in May.
According to CNN, in addition to underpaying their financial shares, Trump pointed out that nation members need to start meeting their NATO financial obligations in the face of increased terrorism threats.
“We should recognize that with these chronic underpayments and growing threats, even 2 percent of GDP is insufficient to close the gaps in modernizing readiness and the size of forces,” he said.
The lack of defense spending across Europe has already been felt, most notably following the Paris terror attacks in 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal report, Belgium posted hundreds of its soldiers on street patrols in Brussels but was forced to appeal to the United States Army for 1,000 sets of body armor to protect them.
While the United States has certainly seen its fair share of cutbacks in defense spending, the U.S. defense budget of $680 billion is still double that of NATO’s nation members collective budget of $242 billion. To add fuel to the fire, American troops are better trained than their European colleagues.
In Germany, politicians have acknowledged the crisis in their country and are working to correct it. Chancellor Angela Merkel has advanced a bill in the German Bundestag that will raise military spending by 8 percent this year, to $42 billion.
Without a doubt, the United States is by far much larger both economically and geographically than any single country in Western Europe, and should have the military budget to show for it. However, for NATO nation members to be as unprepared as they are — and to be forced to “imagine” warfare instead of practice it in a realistic manner — is a threat to the safety of everyone in the world, especially their own citizens.
Once again, Trump was completely right in chastising NATO leaders for their lack of attention to defense spending. Perhaps now that they’ve been brought to task, they’ll take a hard look at their own budgets and step up their military capabilities.
http://conservativetribune.com/when-command-couldnt-get-bullet/