Those who have a problem with this aren´t Merkel voters anyway, so its not as if there was any risk for her. She may on the other hand try to draw the votes of active and retired soldiers into her political camp by this gesture ( after all military service is still officially obligatory in Germany ( although there are possibilities to circumvent it by choosing social service instead), these are many , many votes and the general elections are approaching in September. And by the way, this NOT the return of the Iron cross, it is just an award modelled after it.