In 2020, 12,000 Austrians could not be checked for their fitness for military or civilian service. According to the Ministry of Defence, the main reason for this backlog was the corona pandemic. This would have caused checks to be suspended for months. In the previous year, the army managed to completely eliminate this backlog.
A total of 50,139 conscripts of the corresponding birth cohorts were put through their paces nationwide in 2021, including around 9500 in Upper Austria. While in the state above the Enns 16 percent of those conscripted had to be classified as unfit for military or community service, this was almost 19.7 percent nationwide. Nevertheless, it is gratifying that the number of unfit persons fell by four percent compared to 2020.
According to Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (VP), this increase was achieved through the newly introduced “partial suitability” and the associated lowering of the criteria as well as an optimization of medical and psychological assessment guidelines. These are now being evaluated. You still have to “tweak a few screws” here, said Tanner.
A total of 15,930 boys started their military service nationwide last year.
Source: Nachrichten
