Swiss army
Young Valaisans are the least suitable for military service
Only 58.5% of Valais conscripts were able to reach military or civil service in 2024. The national average is 70.2%. The French -speaking cantons are the bad students.
Conscripts carry out a physical test at the recruitment center, in May 2020 at the Military Barracks in Payerne.
KEYSTONE/Laurent Gillieron
- The Swiss army evaluated 36’135 conscripts in 2024, with 70% national aptitude.
- The Valais displays the lowest rate of aptitude at 58.5%. The other French -speaking cantons are also at the back of the ranking.
- The weaker motivation of the Romans to make the army could explain this regional difference.
Are the young Romands, in particular the Valaisans, are the country’s nickel-plated feet? We can ask ourselves the question by looking at the statistics of aptitude for military service. In 2024, the army evaluated 36,135 conscripts. Seventy percent of them were selected. However, this percentage is lower in French -speaking Switzerland, and the Valaisans are the ducts of the exercise.
The rate of ability to the service fluctuates 82.4% in Obwald at only 58.5% in Valais. This means that 636 Valaisans were sent home last year, out of a total of 1531 final evaluations. Precision: persons capable of military service can then file a request to make civil service.
As for the conscripts which are not retained, some join civil protection (PC). On the national average, they represent 9.4% of all assessments – a lower rate in Latin cantons. These two stages passed, there are 20.4% of unfit, which are not retained for the service or for the PC. Again, the Valaisans stand out, with 29.3% incapacitates – compared to 10.1% in Obwald, the most diligent canton.
Ce Röstigrabe is not new. Even if there can be variations between the cantons according to the years, the Romans are used to occupying the bottom of the ranking, as confirmed by a study of the University of Zurich published in 2017.
Less motivated Romands
How to understand such results? “Measuring the ability to the service is not an exact science, judge Fabien Fivaz, adviser to the States (the green/ne) and co -president of the Swiss Federation for the Civil Service (Civilian). One can imagine that if the level of motivation between a little in account, it is lower in French-speaking Switzerland, where the propensity for anti-militarism is also higher. ”
“Basically, the appreciation is medical,” recalls Charles Juillard (the Center/Ju). But if you don’t want to make the army, you will be more inclined to present x -rays or MRIs to force things. ” Colonel in the army, he adds that the phenomenon can be accentuated by the fact that, more and more, incapacity is linked to psychic questions.
The Charles Juillard States Advisor (the Center/JU) is also a colonel in the army.
KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex
The state advisor raises the embarrassing question, wondering if, in the civilian, some doctors are not complacent. “Army experts are based on their reports, without necessarily questioning them.”
The problem for him is that this röstigraben is reproducing year after year. “Over time, the Romans end up being underrepresented in the army. This should challenge us and question the reasons for the lack of interest of some for this institution. ”
The Valais mystery
And does something special in Valais happen? “Honestly, I have no explanation, reacts Jean-Luc Addor (UDC/VS). The Valaisans are rather hard people in the task, very proud mountain dwellers of Glaciers patrol (Editor’s note: the army organizes the famous ski-alinism test).»
The national councilor prefers to express themselves in general: “The drop in aptitude is worrying, especially since it concerns the army and civil protection. These statistics are the result of a sum of individual decisions, for which there is probably no general explanation. But a reflection should be carried out. “
Recruits begin their military training at the Thoune barracks.
Adrian Moser
Valaisan finds that the army practices “too often a zero risk policy” during recruitment. He imagines that she fears difficulties linked to an old disease or if a person has already had a knit to leave with justice “for two or three nonsense”. “But it’s not just shock troops. And, with its strong management, the Swiss army can help young people who have not been well socialized to rebuild themselves. ”
Average rate
In Bern, The Defense Group emphasizes that, despite this Röstigraben, the part of the Romans incorporated into the army (21% of the workforce) is quite similar to that of the French -speaking population subject to the obligation to serve (23%). He adds that medical criteria are the same for everyone and that the number of conscripts has no influence on decisions.
Last accuracy: the rate of aptitude has increased by around 10% in the last ten years. “This is due to the introduction of the differentiated aptitude, namely with restrictions on certain activities, and the revision of profiles of recruitment functions,” said Delphine Schwab-Allemand, army spokesperson.
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