For round 12. 000 Recruits of the Swiss Army started the compulsory basic training, known in Switzerland as the Recruit School (RS), on Monday. But only around 60 percent of all expected new army members have physically moved into the barracks. In a second phase, the remaining 40 percent will follow on February 8th. Until then, recruits in this group will have to work on military theory from home on their private computer for the first time.

With the help of a learning program, the army newbies have six Hours a day to acquire “basic knowledge of the military and everyday military life”. But, as is often the case in the home office, the cyber recruit school does not initially work without major problems Log in to the system. The users saw the message “The user is locked” on the screen. The reason for this was an initially unknown technical problem. Little by little, some of the home office recruits were able to join their learning program.

Slowly more capacity On Monday afternoon should then at least about 1500 recruits have been online. Army IT personnel are looking for the causes around the clock. Various hardware has already been replaced. The system is running better than yesterday, but is not yet 100 – percent stable, said army spokesman Stefan Hofer zu Heise online. The specific cause of the system malfunctions is still unknown.

Since Tuesday 5000 Recruits use the “Learning Management System”. But that’s not enough: In addition to the home office soldiers, the recruits in the barracks must also be able to use LMS. The army has been using it since 2008 and recently increased the bandwidths.

The recruits have to catch up on the failed e-learning. The army assumes a learning load of six hours a day. Since an average RS day lasts at least twelve hours, catching up is justifiable, says Hofer.

Mandatory service for men With the staggered enlistment of the recruits (as well as a Covid – 19 – test during the mandatory health examination upon entry) the army command wants control the pandemic in the troops. After the physical entry, all members of the army (including cadres who have entered) will have to spend the first few weeks in the barracks, including weekends. This serves their own protection, but also the protection of their private environment.

Switzerland obliges all male Swiss to serve in the military. Swiss women can register voluntarily. The basic training (RS) lasts 18 to 23 Weeks, the total duty is 245 days.

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