Page 107 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

The FüAk, like many training establishments, is often a case of ‘long days, fast weeks’. There are some days that feel reminiscent of Woolwich Hall at RMAS as one tries to remain focussed enough to take in the day’s fourth lecture, and others where the course are dispatched aboard the Frigate Schleswig-Holstein to observe maritime aviation operations and submarine hunting.
Helmuth von Moltke, who originally created the Prussian General Staff in the early nineteenth century believed in a staff that was trained broadly as well as deeply – history, politics and the sciences as well as military theory. While I am not entirely convinced that the Pope’s views of climate change are particu- larly militarily relevant, the wider academic perspec- tives across philosophy, societal development and security policy have proven interesting, as have more directly relevant modules on strategy development, project management and staffwork. The “dialogue of cultures” seminar was particularly interesting, a module conducted alongside the non-NATO course, with rigorous discussions with the Malian, Senegalese and Bangladeshi participants.
Particular highlights of the course are the ‘Dienstreisen’ – service trips, in particular the two-week USA trip that took my course to Washington DC’s State Department and German Embassy, New York and Hawaii. Other trips of note include a week in the Bavarian mountains with the Mountain Brigade, Berlin, the Navy, Air Force and (still to come) NATO Capitals (where I will be running around Brussels, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest over two weeks). As part of the ‘Studienphase Projekt’ a selection of students were dispatched to Japan, India, Australia and other locations across the Indo-Pacific. On the Luftwaffereise, participants are introduced to air capabilities and shown demonstra- tions of counter-hijack, NEO and air attack operations, while as part of the Marinereise they tour a range of German Navy vessels including mine hunters, frigates and submarines – although the boarding action serial was this year sadly cancelled due to weather.
Exercises naturally take more of a staff aspect, with CERASIA seeking to imitate the staff environment of the German Ministry of Defence, while the second Single Service Phase brings in NATO’s Comprehensive Operating Planning Directive at the Corps level and will be followed by three joint exercises – including the CJEX (Combined Joint European Exercise), where we are dispatched to staff colleges across Europe. Combined with the initial Single Service Phase (described in last year’s E&C), participants should have the necessary understanding to be assigned to staff at Brigade, Divisional, Corps, Joint and Multinational headquarters.
There are inevitably frictions sparked by language or cultural misunderstandings and the German sense of humour is sufficiently different that it sometimes takes a little while to realise something was a joke (in both directions) but fortunately the standard of English amongst the Germans (far higher than my standard of German) makes clearing up confusion relatively easy.
The opportunities presented by being back in Germany, particularly in a large city like Hamburg have been tremendous. Copenhagen is an easy drive or train journey away and Germany is easily accessed through the road and rail network
(Fally is now a refugee facility, for those interested). In February we intend to take advantage of access to the US resort in Bavaria to ski, and long weekends in Berlin are easily achievable.
All in all, it has been an enjoyable year and a half so far with six months left to run. One thing is for certain – I will be leaving with a great deal more sympathy for internationals on British courses!
Visiting the WWII memorials
EAGLE AND CARBINE 115
Not to the air force either