Applying for benefits in the event of damage to health as a result of service as a soldier in the German Armed Forces

If you have suffered a military service injury during your time in the Bundeswehr, you may be entitled to compensation. After leaving military service, pension benefits can be granted on application.

If, as a soldier, you have suffered a health impairment that is recognized as a result of military service, you can receive benefits from the compensation scheme.

During military service, monthly compensation is paid depending on the degree of the consequences of the injury.
If a soldier dies from a military service injury, the parents can receive a death grant if they were living in the same household as the person at the time of death and no qualifying benefits were granted.

After leaving military service, a pension can be granted on application.

The pension can be provided in the form of cash or non-cash benefits and includes, depending on the established degree of the consequences of the injury

• non-income-related benefits such as basic pension, care allowance, severely disabled person's allowance and clothing allowance and, if applicable
• income-related benefits such as compensatory pension, spouse's supplement and occupational injury compensation.

Pension benefits may also be paid to widows and widowers, surviving partners, half or full orphans and surviving parents if the soldier dies as a result of the military service injury.

In addition to the benefits already mentioned, you may also be entitled to

• Medical and sickness treatment
• assumption of costs in the event of a need for nursing care and a stay in a home as a result of the injury
• orthopaedic care
• welfare benefits (war victims' welfare)
• Death and funeral benefits

These benefits begin at the earliest when you leave the Bundeswehr.

Furthermore, compensation can be paid for material damage to clothing or items normally carried in an accident during military service.

If a recognized military service injury causes exceptional wear and tear to clothing or underwear, a monthly lump sum will be granted. If blindness is recognized as a military service injury, a monthly amount will be paid for the maintenance of a guide dog and as an allowance for being guided by others.

• If the application is submitted in writing: birth certificate or civil status data confirmed by a Bundeswehr office.
• If the application is submitted in person: identity card or passport.
• Certificate of military service
• Military medical certificate as well as all documents available for this medical condition, e.g. expert reports or findings.
  
  

Forms: yes
Online procedure possible: no
Written form required: yes
Personal appearance required: no

• You must be or have been a soldier in the service of the Bundeswehr.
• You must have suffered a health impairment which is the consequence of a military service injury, that is to say:
  • You have suffered an injury to health in your capacity as a soldier as a result of
    • a period of military service,
    • an accident occurring during military service, or
    • circumstances peculiar to military service.

• Soldiers in a military service relationship are subject to a complaints procedure in accordance with the Military Complaints Regulations (WBO).
• For former servicemen and women or their surviving dependants, an objection procedure is conducted.
• Complaints procedure

• In the case of active soldiers, the procedure is usually initiated by the military doctor via a so-called military service injury sheet, who is first informed of the injury or illness.
• The Federal Office of Armed Forces Personnel Management then initiates investigations ex officio and provides information on the further progress of the procedure.
• If, because you have left the Bundeswehr, a military service injury does not become apparent until after the end of your military service, you must file an application. You must also always apply for any other post-deployment benefits.
• Download the appropriate application form from the Bundeswehr website.
• Print out the application, sign it and enclose all the necessary documents. You can find out which documents you need on the application form.
• Send your application to the address indicated on the form.
• The Federal Office of Personnel Management of the German Armed Forces will examine your application and will make further inquiries and inform you about the further procedure.

For continuous benefits, you must file your application within 1 year after your military service ends; applications filed later will be approved as of the 1st of the month of application.

In about two thirds of the procedures, a decision is taken on the application within 1 year.

You don't have to pay anything.