Jochen Both (General)

Jochen Both (2014)

Jochen Both (born April 1, 1954 in Brunsbüttelkoog , Schleswig-Holstein ) is a major general a. D. the air force of the German armed forces . He retired on July 1, 2015 and was last serving as the commander of the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force Command at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) site near Casteau near Mons , Belgium .

Military career

Training and first uses

In 1972, after graduating from high school, Jochen Both joined the German Air Force as an officer candidate and completed officer training at the Air Force Officer School (at that time) in Neubiberg as well as the aeronautical selection training, the so-called screening at Weapons School 50 in Fürstenfeldbruck. This was followed by basic training for pilots in the USA at Sheppard Air Force Base , Texas, and immediately afterwards advanced training on the aircraft type F-104 G Starfighter at Luke Air Force Base , Arizona . After successfully completing his training, he was deployed as a fighter- bomber pilot in the fighter-bomber squadron 31 “Boelcke” , based in Nörvenich , from 1979 . Here he dressed u. a. the functions of the weapon operations officer (S3W) of the flying group as well as the operations staff officer of the 1st and later the 2nd flying squadron. During this time he was retrained on Panavia Tornado in 1983 at the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment at the Royal Air Force Station in Cottesmore / Great Britain .

From 1986 to 1988 Both took part in the 31st general staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg . Subsequently, he was employed as Head of Operations (A3b) in the command of the 3rd Air Force Division, which at that time was in Kalkar on the Lower Rhine, and also held the position of Senior Plans Officer in the collocated Allied Tactical Operations Center (ATOC ). From 1990 to 1992 he was employed at the Bonn Hardthöhe in the military-political staff department of the Command Staff of the Armed Forces (FüS III 3) as a consultant responsible for the EUROGROUP of NATO and for the WEU. Then Both became deputy and in 1993 commander of the flying group of Fighter Bomber Wing 33 in Büchel. This was followed in 1994 by a renewed assignment at the Hardthöhe in Bonn in the press and information staff of the Federal Ministry of Defense as spokesman for air force matters for the then Federal Defense Minister Volker Rühe . In 1996 he took over the management of the Security Policy Department on the same staff for one year.

Another troop command followed this assignment when he became commodore of reconnaissance squadron 51 "Immelmann" in 1997 , which includes the air base in Jagel / Kropp and the barracks named after Kai-Uwe von Hassel , the former Minister of Defense and Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister . The unit, equipped with reconnaissance tornadoes, formed, together with aircraft from Fighter Bomber Wing 32, from the summer of 1995, Einsatzgeschwader 1 in Piacenza , Italy . On March 24, 1999, Both led this squadron into Operation Allied Force against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This was followed in 2000 by participating in the 99th Senior Course at the NATO Defense College in Rome with a subsequent transfer to the strategic headquarters of NATO in Europe, the Supreme Allied Command Europe (SHAPE) near Casteau near Mons in Belgium. Here he was responsible for nuclear concepts and theater missile defense. After that, in 2002 he was reassigned back to Hardtöhe, this time as Head of the Conceptual Division (FüL III 1) in the Air Force Command Staff .

General uses

Already in September of the same year, Jochen Both changed to the post of commander of the Luftwaffe officers' school in Fürstenfeldbruck . In this function, he was appointed Brigadier General . In the spring of 2005, he was again appointed to the Federal Ministry of Defense to the post of Head of Staff Department III in the Air Force Command, responsible for planning, design and deployment.

On April 1, 2009 he took over the post of Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command in Cologne / Wahn. After the airstrike near Kunduz , Both was temporarily appointed major general from November 2009 to July 2010 and took part in NATO's Afghanistan mission as Deputy Chief of Staff of the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, responsible for all ISAF air operations.

After his return, he took over on August 16, 2010 as the first commander of the European Air Transport Command at the Eindhoven location in the Netherlands. In 2011, this command made a significant contribution to the evacuation of German citizens from Libya and in the further course of supplying the Belgian, French and Dutch troops who were deployed in Libya as part of the international military operation. ^Receipt? From August 1, 2012, Both commanded the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe location near Mons before he retired on July 1, 2015.

He is married and has two children.

Awards

On January 19, 2001, Both was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . On October 12, 2012, he was appointed officer of the French Ordre national du Mérite .

Web links

• Career of Jochen Both (europarl.europa.eu)