Forgetting von Clausewitz

European military readiness, as reported on StrategyPage:

Efforts to end conscription are also meeting with resistance, as a quarter of those eligible for conscription choose the alternative, working for one additional month, free, for a social welfare organization. As it is, military conscripts only serve for nine months, while alternative service is only ten months. But the social welfare organizations face financial catastrophe if they lose their free labor. The generals would prefer to get rid of conscription, and go all volunteer like Britain and the United States. The budget cuts and shift towards peacekeeping will probably result in less training, lower readiness and lower morale.

Maybe my memory is just too long, but a crippled German Army won’t cause me to lose any sleep.