Back before Covid I seriously considered joining the armed forces in Germany as a side entry OCS candidate. They were looking for people, still do, so the offered package wasn't to bad. Go through basic, go through OCS, get a rank in accordance to your academic degree (with a Master it was Captain for me, no idea how the rest of the service men think about that so) and sign on for 15 years doing something more meaningful than making sure rich people get even richer. Even passed the assessment center.

What turned out to be the deal braker was exactly what you pointed out: despite quite a few military bases close to where we live, bases that had a need for someone with my background at that (so no infantry combat units, but rather hardware and logistics heavy units like fighters and helicopters and the like), they were unable to give a gurantee to serve at the same location for longer than the initial year or so. Having family, a wife with a career and a house, moving every 3 years max just cause simply is a no go. Heck, even 6 months deployment were acceptable, if not ok, for my better half. I doubt so, that the Germany armed forces really understand how much of a problem that posses for recruiting when you need skilled people and not only people anymore. Which actually is a pitty. Funny thing so, this constant shuffeling around of folks even causes serious issues internally because a ton of knowledge is lost (confirmed by ex service members), so offering more stability would solve a bunch of problems. At the same time, they would also offer flexibility, because if transfers are still a thing, military spouses have so much more options pursuing their careers when serving partner can "simply" transfer to another post.