The German army has teamed up with a glitzy teen magazine to advertise “adventure camps” to German youth as it tries to persuade young people to join, now that conscription is no longer in force.

The magazine’s website shows young people enjoying the beach, playing volleyball and scrambling over rocks. The magazine, Bravo, is the army’s media partner in the camps, and the ads prominently feature on its homepage, www.bravo.de.

Children’s rights experts in Germany are outraged. “This misleading advertisement in youth media violates the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the particular duty a government has to protect children,” said expert from Terre des Hommes, Ralf Willinger, reports Spiegel Online.

“The Bundeswehr’s advertising is becoming more intensive, both quantitatively and qualitatively,” he said.

The children’s rights activities quoted by Spiegel made clear that they believe any military recruiting aimed at children is wrong, so they would oppose the military’s participation in school career fairs in the UK and U.S.

The German army’s efforts to appear “cool” to young people are not surprising. Since the army ended conscription, its recruiting efforts have to be ratcheted up. The most promising targets for recruitment? Young people just turning 18, and trying to determine what to do with their lives.

But this news is still disturbing. From 1871 until 1945, Germany was, for the most part, a military state. The end of conscription is changing the much quieter role of the military has played since that time. Germany has never tried this before. The military is going through its greatest change in several generations. Watch for this type of recruiting to increase as the army grows to play a bigger role in German life.