Friedrich Wilhelm Ploeger

Friedrich Wilhelm Ploeger (born March 25, 1949 in Emmerich ) is a retired German lieutenant general . In his last employment, he was from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013 Deputy Commander of the Allied Air Force in Ramstein . Until his retirement he was the oldest active German soldier.

biography

Training and first uses

After attending school and graduating from high school , Ploeger joined the Bundeswehr as an officer candidate in 1967 and completed training as a radar control officer at the Technical School of the Air Force (TSLw) between 1967 and 1970 , as he was unable to complete training as a pilot while wearing glasses .

After his promotion to lieutenant in 1970 he became a radar control officer (Jäger control and air situation officer) with the II./Fernmelderegiment (FmRgt) 31 in Freising and then in 1972 teaching officer and lecture hall manager for radar technology and radar control with 17./TSLw 2 in Erndtebrück . There he was promoted to lieutenant in 1973 . From 1975 to 1980 he was a radar control staff officer at III./FmRgt 34 ​​in Schleswig , where he was promoted to captain in 1976 .

Service as a staff officer

After being promoted to major in 1980, he began the Air Force General Staff course at the Bundeswehr Leadership Academy (FüAkBw) in Hamburg . After graduating, he was company commander of 5./FmRgt 33 in Borgentreich between 1982 and 1984 and then head of A3a at the command of the 4th Air Force Division in Aurich .

In 1986 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and as such appointed advisor (Fü L VI 1) for planning principles, structures and stationing in the air force command staff at the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn . From 1988 to 1990 he was an adjutant to the Deputy Inspector of the Air Force .

From 1990 to 1993 he worked as a consultant for military policy and military strategy at the German mission to NATO in Brussels . After his return he was promoted to colonel in 1993 and commander of radar guidance department 22 in Meßstetten . After working as head of the department for conception, planning, structures and stationing in the planning staff of the Federal Minister of Defense in Bonn from 1995 to 1997 during the term of office of Federal Defense Minister Volker Rühe , he was again for two years from 1997 to 1999 as head of the nuclear planning, nuclear policy , Nuclear strategy active at the German NATO mission in Brussels. To that extent, he accompanied the paradigm shift after the Cold War .

Service in the rank of general

After his return in 1999 he was promoted to brigadier general and at the same time appointed commander of the Air Force Command Service (LwFüDstKdo) in Cologne .

He was then promoted to major general in 2000 and was head of the staff department for “Military Policy and Arms Control ” in the Armed Forces Staff (Fü S III) in the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin .

In October 2003 he became commander of the 2nd Air Force Division in Birkenfeld . His successor as commander was Karl Müllner on September 25, 2007 .

On September 18, 2007 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as the successor to Hans-Joachim Schubert to the command of the operational command of the air force (KdoOpFüLuSK) in Kalkar . At the same time, he was Commander of the NATO Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) 2 command post and Executive Director of the Joint Air Power Competence Center (JAPCC) in Kalkar. He handed over these functions to Dieter Naskrent .

On July 1, 2010 he took over the post of deputy commander in the Allied Air Command Ramstein (Allied Air Forces) in Ramstein. He kept this until his retirement.

Awards

For his services in the Bundeswehr, he was awarded the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor in silver and gold . In addition, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon and in 2004 the Order of the Black Eagle 3rd Class of the Republic of Estonia .

Web links

• RHEINISCHE POST: "Precision landing at home" (December 8, 2007)
• THE WEST: "Everything listens to its command" (December 27, 2007)
• Biography JAPCC (English, PDF file; 84 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Wiegold : Right in the middle instead of just being there. augengeradeaus.net, February 2, 2012, accessed February 11, 2012 .