I soldati tedeschi in Afghanistan bevono e mangiano troppo

[rossana <rossana at comodinoposta.org>]

Secondo una relazione parlamentare i soldati tedeschi in Afghanistan si 
son bevuti 1,7 milioni di pinte di birra e 90.000 bottiglie di vino nel 
2007. Nei primi sei mesi del 2008 sono state spedite circa 896.000 pinte 
di birra. Le altre forze della NATO, quelle britanniche e americane, si 
sono molto arrabbiate perchè per loro non c'è nulla, fra l'altro loro 
sono in prima linea mentre i tedeschi se ne stanno più lontani e il loro 
governo ha imposto dei limiti al combattimento.
Ma non basta. Il 40% dei soldati tedeschi nell'età compresa fra i 18 e i 
29 anni sono in sovrappeso rispetto al 35% dei loro coetanei civili.

German soldiers deemed 'too fat to fight'

December 3, 2008

First they were accused of not wanting to fight. Then they were blamed 
for failing in their main mission to train the Afghan police.

Now Germany’s battered military reputation has received a further 
humiliating blow. According to official reports the 3,500 troops in 
northern Afghanistan drink too much and are too fat to fight.

A German parliamentary report has revealed that in 2007 German forces in 
Afghanistan consumed about 1.7 million pints of beer and 90,000 bottles 
of wine. During the first six months of this year 896,000 pints of beer 
were shipped to German forces in Afghanistan. British and US bases in 
the country enforce a strict ban on alcohol.

The physical condition of the soldiers was already in question after a 
German armed forces report found that 40 per cent of its soldiers aged 
18-29 were overweight, compared to 35 per cent of the civilian 
population of the same age.

The report, published in March, concluded that the Bundeswehr lived on 
beer and sausages while shunning fruit and vegetables. It said that an 
overdeveloped bureaucracy was also contributing to a “passive lifestyle” 
on the part of the soldiers.

Reinhold Robbe, the parliamentary commissioner for the German armed 
forces, concluded: “Plainly put, the soldiers are too fat, exercise too 
little and take little care of their diet.”

“Yes, it is true, the German soldiers in Kunduz are allowed to drink two 
cans of beer per day,” Lieutenant-Colonel Rainer Zaude, a spokesman for 
the forces, confirmed.

Even more damning is the allegation from a senior officer that Germany 
is failing in its main mission to train the Afghan police. General 
Hans-Christoph Ammon, the commander of the special commando unit, the 
KSK, described the efforts as “a miserable failure”.

The Government is also reported to have banned any reference to Krieg 
(war), in press statements on Afghanistan. Caveats imposed by the German 
Government limit the forces to operations in the relatively passive north.

Twenty-eight German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, 
including two in a suicide bomb attack in Kunduz province last month.

The Germans in Afghanistan

German Tornado aircraft are limited to unarmed reconaissance

German Medevac helicopters have to be back at base by dusk

German forces limited to the northern areas of the country where there 
is a lower level of fighting (though the level of fighting there is now 
beginning to change)

US forces have been very frustrated by the caution of German rules of 
engagement - German troops operating alongside US forces have refused to 
open fire on occasion for fear of causing civilian casualties.

A trial is currently underway in the German courts following an incident 
in which German soldiers opened fire on a car that approached a 
checkpoint believing it contained a suicide bomb - several civilians 
died in the incident

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5277034.ece