Volker Wieker

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General Volker Wieker (2015)

Volker Wieker (born March 1, 1954 in Delmenhorst ) is a former German officer with the rank of general . From 2010 to 2018 he was the 15th  General Inspector of the Bundeswehr , making him the longest in office in the history of the Bundeswehr .

Career

Wieker joined the Bundeswehr in July 1974 with the armored artillery battalion 315 in Wildeshausen . As part of the officer training in the artillery force and a study of surveying at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich, he held several management positions in the artillery, including as platoon leader and battery chief at the 315 tank artillery battalion in Wildeshausen.

Staff officer

Promotions

From October 1987 to September 1989 he completed the 30th  general staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg , where he was trained as an officer in the general staff service . From 1989 to 1991 he was a consultant in the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) in Bonn . 1991/92 Wieker graduated from the United States Army General Staff Course at Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Back in Germany, he was used as a staff officer for operations and training G 3 in the Panzerbrigade 21 in Augustdorf in 1992/93 .

From 1993 Wieker commanded the armored artillery battalion 215, which was also stationed in Augustdorf. In 1996/97 he was an advisor to the management of the BMVg and completed an assignment abroad in Bosnia and Herzegovina ; at IFOR he was employed as a staff officer for training and operations and as head of the operations department.

From 1997 to 1999 Wieker was adjutant to Defense Minister Volker Rühe ( CDU ) and Rudolf Scharping ( SPD ). Then he took over the leadership of the ministerial working group "Further Development of the Army" in the command staff of the Army .

In September 1999 he took over command of the 40 Panzer Grenadier Brigade in Schwerin . As the last commander, he led them until their dissolution on September 30, 2002. In this role, he commanded the 3rd German KFOR contingent from May to December 2001 . At the same time he was the commander of the Multinational Brigade South.

general

Under Major General Werner Widder and Jürgen Ruwe , he became Chief of Staff in the Army Office in 2002 . On March 3, 2004, Wieker came to the Army Command as Chief of Staff. As the new inspector of the army , Hans-Otto Budde was again Wieker's superior. Wieker was replaced by Werner Freers on September 27, 2007 and transferred to Münster as Deputy Commanding General . On July 2, 2008 he became the commanding general of the 1st German-Dutch corps . On October 9, 2009, he also took over the post of Chief of Staff of ISAF in Afghanistan under the command of Stanley A. McChrystal .

On December 18, 2009, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg announced that Wieker would follow Wolfgang Schneiderhan as Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, and on January 21, 2010 he officially took over his office. In his first year as Inspector General, he sharply criticized the Bundeswehr's procurement system. In his estimation, billions of dollars would be spent on inferior armaments that did not ensure that the German armed forces were properly equipped. In view of this, he demanded renegotiations with the business community on armaments projects.

In an interview with the weekly newspaper Der Spiegel on June 9, 2013, he admitted complicity in the failure of the Euro Hawk drone project . In March 2015, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen extended Wieker's term of office beyond reaching the age limit in March 2016 by one year to March 2017. In November 2016, the BMVg announced a further extension of the term of office until the beginning of 2018.

Wieker was retired on April 18, 2018 with the big tattoo by Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen . Lieutenant General Eberhard Zorn was named as the successor to the position of Inspector General .

Wieker works as a "Senior Military Advisor" at the Munich Security Conference .

Awards

Private

Wieker and his wife Sabine have two children.

Web links

Commons : Volker Wieker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Personnel changes in top military and civilian positions. (PDF) BMVg Press and Information Office, June 20, 2008, accessed on April 4, 2016 .
  2. ^ Rüdiger Scheidges: Supreme soldier accuses the Bundeswehr of wasting billions. In: Handelsblatt (online version). September 1, 2010, accessed on June 9, 2013 : "Wieker's scolding at the troops 'procurement system could not have been any harder:" Splintered responsibilities, existing procedures and processes, outside influence and insufficient funding have been limiting the armed forces' scope for action for some time. ““
  3. ↑ Inspector General admits errors in "Euro-Hawk" affair. In: Spiegel Online. June 9, 2013, accessed May 27, 2014 .
  4. ^ BMVg.de: From the Ministry. In: www.bmvg.de. Retrieved November 29, 2016 .
  5. ^ Minister says goodbye to General Wieker. In: website of the Federal Ministry of Defense. April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Personnel changes in top positions of the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Bundeswehr. (PDF; 86.2 kB) BMVg Press and Information Office, March 16, 2018, accessed on March 16, 2018 .
  7. ^ Team - Munich Security Conference. Retrieved May 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from February 6, 2014 ( BAnz AT 02/17/2014 B1 )
  9. ^ Bundeswehr Inspector General Wieker Commander of the French Legion of Honor. In: French Embassy Berlin. August 29, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016 .
  10. ↑ www.bmvg.de , accessed on March 12, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Wieker, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Army Officer, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Delmenhorst