Recruits stay in barracks, no weekend holidays: this is how the army justifies the holiday ban – news

Bad news in the morning “opening reading”: Weekend break for recruits is canceled until the end of October.

Several weekends a year, a real migration of people can be observed in Switzerland: thousands of recruits in the barracks load their backpacks and go to all corners of Switzerland.

But in the days of the Crown, many things are different in the military. Even for nostalgic recruits. Now you have to face a major blow: as “Blick” reports, the army has issued a holiday ban until the end of October.

Army spokesman Daniel Reist confirmed to SRF News that the license in the home country was canceled. “It’s about not wanting to endanger the health of young people in the last two and a half weeks. Also, you want to be able to properly complete the recruiting schools. “

According to Reist, there are currently 24 cases of corona virus infection in the military. All of these cases were brought on vacation. There were no infections within the army itself, according to Reist: “People were infected on weekends, when they were partying, with their girlfriends, in the family.”

rude awakening

Now they want to prevent entire companies from being quarantined. Superiors informed those directly affected of the holiday ban at 7 am, when it was read to them. One or the other recruit must have swallowed empty.

The army spokesman also sees positive things: “I think that if the recruits think something, they will be almost happy not to be exposed to the risk of having to be quarantined en masse.” The move is reasonable from the point of view of the army command.

Response to an increase in the number of cases

The question remains why the army only now cancels the weekend vacation. Most recruiting schools are currently in weeks 16 or 18. The move is an interference with the personal freedoms of recruits, Reist says. “Also, the number of cases in civil society has increased dramatically in recent days.”

Now the military wants to make sure this is not felt in the barracks.

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