Reports Of Soldier Mistreatment At Mittenwald

[Richard]

Doesn't sound like the same Climbing and Mountain Warfare School we attended in Mittenwald - we just had to climb, shoot, and compete in their unit's 'Bavarian Olympics.'

Richard

German Army Investigates Reports Of Soldier Mistreatment
Deutsche Welle, 10 Feb 2010

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg on Tuesday urged a probe into the reports of ritual hazing and abuse at a mountain infantry training camp in Mittenwald in southern Germany.

"We need to clarify the incidents and draw appropriate consequences," the minister told public broadcaster ZDF in an interview.

Germany's military commissioner Reinhold Robbe, who was informed about the incidents, submitted a report to the parliament's defense policy committee this week.

The scandal surface after a young soldier who trained at the camp came forward to describe soldiers being forced to drink alcohol to the point of vomiting and to eat raw pig's liver. He also said they were forced to complete climbing exercises in the nude.

Robbe said the complaints were "basically" confirmed by the soldier's divisional commander.

A spokesman for the mountain infantry unit acknowledged the events in an interview with German news agency dpa. "The rituals were performed among the ranks," he said, adding that new recruits were required to complete the hazing in order "to be considered a real mountain infantryman."

An internal investigation into the hazing accusations found that the incidents took place outside the barracks and outside of official work hours. According to the complaint, superiors were aware of the rituals but did not intervene.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5234165,00.html

[mojaveman]

I could probably handle the Apfelkorn and raw schweinleber, but climbing nude in the Bavarian Alps this time of year? Eeek!

[robert2854]

Richard, I was assigned to the 10th in 66-67, but never went to mittenwald, although I think I remember climbing something in the nude and being drunk.

robert2854

[Mitch]

Originally Posted by robert2854

Richard, I was assigned to the 10th in 66-67, but never went to mittenwald, although I think I remember climbing something in the nude and being drunk.

robert2854

I trained at Mittenwald in the winter of 78 - but as guests in training, we were shown their best side I'm sure. When we were there, we wore their unifoms - they told us that theirs were better suited for the training - at no time did they suggest that we participate in any "nude training."

My impressions of them were that these guys considered themselves the best of the best, the hardest of the hard - nothing tougher in the army than to be a member of the Gebirgstruppen. Like our Green Beret, their symbol of achievement into this elite fraternity was hard to win and immediately recognizable by anyone in Europe. The symbol is the Edelweiss insignia (the white flower that only grows in the high Alps).

I am sure that before you could pin that little flower on to your uniform, you had to man-up and pay your dues, do what was done before, and probably included various forms of initiation or hazing - but like I said - we did not see that. But I have no problem with it either - all of the guys I met there were tough, confident, intelligent and obvious military professionals.

My experience with them included a banquet at the end of our training - that included singing of unit songs, lots of schnapps, and generally a place & time where soldiers celebrated their comradeship.

[Dragbag036]

I spent some time training in wonderful Mittenwald and Bad Reichenhall Germany. Although there were some shenanigans going on, as it was their first attempt at an International Mountain School, I never had to do any of the requires task "splitterfasernackt" (butt a-- naked)