"I am 50% German. One of my German lines descends from Junkers in eastern Prussia, and another is from Magdeburg. I have no know idea what status the Magdeburg line had, but I think they were peasants. The Junker line was quite well off with many being professionals like bankers or owners of printing companies. The other line was, until recently, farmers."
To be 50% German, doesn't that require one of your parents to be German, rather than having some German ancestors?
"conscripts make poor soldiers. the Russians are trying to replace conscripts with professionals."
Not per se. The Russian army is troubled by the dedovshchina system, wich clearly renders the entire conscription programme useless. That's why the Russian army seeks to replace the conscripts with professionals.
