General staff training (Austria)
In principle, every officer in the Austrian Armed Forces can be considered for general staff training. However, the mandatory prerequisites for this are successful completion of the Military Academy , four to five years of service as a troop officer with an above-average assessment, proof of suitability as a commander of a military unit, and physical and mental aptitude. The troops have the right to propose. The general staff training is basically also open to foreign military personnel.
The main goal of the Austrian general staff training is to acquire application-ready knowledge regarding the combat use of connected weapons as well as the management and supply of large military units from brigade level. For this purpose, teaching and research take place in individual blocks such as troop leadership, logistics management, military and general knowledge formation and defense policy, divided into around 40 subjects.
Preparation and course of training
The lead Federal Ministry for National Defense selects suitable candidates for general staff training from the voluntary group of applicants who meet these conditions . With a lead time of about one year before the start of the general staff course, the officers in question take part in a pre-training course, with the aim of making a pre-selection of the so-called “first examination” and the subsequent “main examination”; without the possibility of a repeat examination.
Examination subjects (first examination) are, for example, tactics, basic military knowledge and general knowledge. Around 20-25% of the lecture hall participants successfully master this test hurdle.
Examination focus of the following "main examination", which is taken at the National Defense Academy, must also prove sufficient knowledge of weapons theory, military geography and foreign languages, which is the case with about 50% of the officers' audiences. After passing the “main examination”, the officers concerned can be admitted to the actual “General Staff Course” of the “General Staff Class”, now at the “National Defense Academy in Vienna”.
The “general staff course” lasts two years, followed by a one-year “trial in general staff service”. The lecture hall training is regularly supplemented by tactical trips, alpine training as well as practical exercises and instructions. Knowledge of the entire scope of the subject matter is demonstrated in two main examinations. The first main examination is planned for the second year of study, towards the end of the fourth semester. The second main examination takes place in the third year of study, at the end of the “one-year trial in the general staff service”. About 80% of the course participants successfully take this last training level. The officers concerned are then accepted into the General Staff Corps and promoted, for example, to "Captain of the General Staff" (in short: HptmdG)
Use in the general staff
General staff officers of the Austrian Armed Forces are generalists. Lifelong learning is the basic maxim. After successful training, they are usually employed in a prominent position in staff, an adjutantage or in positions of higher commanding troops.
In the following years there are opportunities to maintain knowledge and further scientific training. There are also courses for senior commanders of the Austrian Armed Forces.
See also
literature
- Hubert Zeinar : History of the Austrian General Staff . Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-205-77415-9 .
- Hans Georg Model "The German General Staff Officer", his selection and training, in the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr, Bernard & Graf Verlag für Wehrwesen Frankfurt am Main 1968, p. 262, ... General Staff training ... Austria.