Faced with a shortage of young recruits, the Bundeswehr should look to the “other end of the age pyramid,” Bastian Ernst has said The upper age limit for military reservists in Germany should be raised to 70 given that people stay fit longer, Bastian Ernst, the newly elected president of the country’s Reservists’ Association, has said. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Germany has pursued a major recruitment drive, aiming to increase Bundeswehr personnel from the current 186,000 to 260,000 active soldiers and another 200,000 reservists by the mid-2030s. While Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government has cited a perceived ‘Russian threat,’ President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as “nonsense” claims that Moscow harbors aggressive intentions against NATO states. In an interview with the RND media outlet published on Tuesday, Ernst stated that “we should raise the age limit for reservists from 65 to 70.” “The retirement age is rising anyway. People are staying fit longer,” he explained.…