By Germany’s military communications are so poor that soldiers in armoured vehicles are forced to open the hatches or clamber out and shout rather than use the radio, according to a damning report on the wider dysfunctionality in its armed forces.
The commission identified kit shortages, shoddy infrastructure and stifling red tape, ranging from dilapidated barracks with walls propped up by sandbags to 66 accidents caused by a standard-issue parachute that cannot be steered at high speeds or when the wind changes.
It took ten years to submit an order for a model of helicopter pilot helmet used by the US since the 1990s, seven years to supply the media team with modern cameras, and five years to discipline an NCO who used the greeting “Sieg
