The German army has not been having a good week. On Monday, a trial related to the abusive treatment of new recruits kicked off in which 17 officers are accused of mistreating 163 recruits. Now, a report on the state of the Bundeswehr is adding to its woes. Dilapidated barracks, overworked soldiers and inadequate equipment -- the annual assessment of the army's condition is a laundry list of short-comings.

The reason for the Bundeswehr's sad state is simple, said Reinhold Robbe who looks after the German army for the parliament. A lack of sufficient funding has resulted in a number of deficits. In addition, the workload has increased, with underpaid, overworked troops sent on more and more missions overseas.

The conservative daily Die Welt considers the report "embarrassing."

"The Bundeswehr is under funded and worn out. The army is fighting its greatest enemy -- shrinking finances and increasing duties -- with little success.… Given the stagnant budget, the Bundeswehr can't do everything at once: It can't play world police from Africa to Afghanistan while training new recruits to protect their country. Robbe's report serves as a warning to finally start the debate on what exactly Germany needs its army for."

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung urges the Ministry of Defense to put off the issue of dilapidated barracks no longer.

"It's not so bad that the buildings will collapse any minute and there are certainly bigger problems in this world. But the barracks in Western Germany are often decades old and haven't been renovated in years. The high fluctuation of soldiers adds to the wear and tear. The troops suffer from the same sort of problems as teachers and students: Those areas cared for by the state often look like dumps. Some of the problems in the barracks can be repaired with bit of imagination. But for broken roofs and old, worn-out mattresses, no parent initiative or Bundeswehr DIY session will do. The money needs to come out of the state pocket."

The flaws of the Bundeswehr shouldn't be played down, says the center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung, but they need to be put into context of the achievements of the army:

"The public was right to be outraged by the photographs of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with skulls (last autumn) but they should remember that more than 200,000 male and female troops do a good job on their missions abroad. Furthermore, the ongoing trial in Münster against Bundeswehr supervisors and their alleged abuse proves that the army's internal control mechanisms are working."

"The Bundeswehr doesn't have a lobby. It only gets attention when there are scandals -- and when the annual report comes out. The politicians continue imposing more and more foreign missions on the army. The financial means for renovating the barracks -- and even for the missions themselves -- are inevitably lacking. Most disturbing, however, is the impression that despite the problems being well known, nothing changes."