Wolfgang Koepke
Wolfgang Köpke (born September 21, 1953 in Oldenburg in Holstein ) is retired major general . D. of the Army of the German Armed Forces and was Head of the Army Development Office from November 13, 2014 to October 2016 .
Military career
Training and first uses
In 1973, after graduating from high school, Köpke joined the German Armed Forces at Air Defense Battalion 6 in Lütjenburg , part of the Army Air Defense Force , as a reserve officer candidate , and in 1974 he finally became an officer candidate .
After completing his officer training, he was made a lieutenant in 1975 and first served as platoon leader officer in anti-aircraft battalion 6 , later as an S2 officer (head of staff department S2 ) and finally as battery chief. In this association, which was reclassified to the Air Defense Regiment 6, he served until 1985. In 1978 he was appointed first lieutenant and 1981 captain .
General staff training and service as a staff officer
From 1985 to 1987 Köpke completed the 28th Army General Staff Course at the Command Academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg. After this course, Köpke stayed at the management academy and was employed there as a planning staff officer. In 1989 he was transferred to Kiel, where he became Head of Traffic Management / Traffic Staff Officer in the Schleswig-Holstein Territorial Command / German authorized representative in the AFNORTH area . In the same year he was promoted to major. He then moved in 1990 as a G3 staff officer to Panzer Brigade 18 in Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein , and a year later, also as a G3 staff officer, Köpke was transferred to the 40 Homeland Security Brigade stationed in Schwerin . In 1991 he was also promoted to lieutenant colonel.
In 1992 he took over the anti-tank gun battalion 12 in Hardheim as commander and led it until his transfer to the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) in 1994. During his employment as battalion commander he became friends with Robert P. Lennox Deputy Chief of Staff G8 United States Army, at that time commander of an American anti-aircraft battalion near Würzburg. In the BMVg, Köpke served as a consultant in two roles, on the one hand in the department for central tasks in the command staff of the Army (FüH), on the other hand as the personal assistant to State Secretary Dr. Peter Wichert . In 1998 he was again commander, this time of the mixed air defense regiment 2 in Fuldatal . Also in 1998 he was appointed colonel . In 2000, Köpke moved to the staff of the military area command V / 10. Panzer division to Sigmaringen, where he took over the post of department head G1. As early as 2001, another assignment followed in the Federal Ministry of Defense as Head of Division I 7 in the Army Command.
General uses
In 2002, Köpke returned to Fuldatal, where he became the first commander of the newly established Air Defense Brigade 100 . He was appointed brigadier general in 2004. In the same year he went on a foreign assignment to Bosnia and Herzegovina as Chief of Staff HQ SFOR and commander of the 9th German SFOR contingent in Sarajevo and Butmir. There he initially served under the American commander of the Stabilization Force ( SFOR ) Major General Virgil L. Packett II, after the change in command on October 5, 2004 under the American Brigadier General Steven P. Schook. At the beginning of 2005 he took over office and command as General of the Army Air Defense and Commander of the Army Air Defense School in Rendsburg from Brigadier General Dieter Schuster . In October 2007 he founded a sponsorship between the two units in Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, together with the commanding general of the American air defense, Major General Robert P. Lennox. Köpke was released from office and command on November 28, 2007 by the commander of the army schools and deputy head of the army office , Brigadier General Dieter Schuster, and the army air defense school was decommissioned. His previous deputy, Colonel i. On the same day, G. Klaus Kuhlen became the first commander of the successor organization of the training center for the Army Air Defense Force and General of the Army Air Defense Force .
On December 4, 2007, Köpke took over the post of Chief of Staff in the Army Office in Cologne from his predecessor Brigadier General Hans-Werner Fritz . From that post, he was released on May 2, 2011 at a few days later to the ISAF headquarters in Afghanistan's Kabul , first as Deputy Chief of Staff Strategic Partnering and from December 2011 to May 2012 as Deputy Chief of Staff for Resources to change. With the beginning of his service at the ISAF headquarters Köpke was appointed major general. Back in Germany, Köpke took over the post of Chief of Staff in the newly established Army Command on October 1, 2012 . On November 13, 2014, he took over the management of the Army Development Office after handing over the duties of Chief of Staff in the Army Command to Brigadier General Alfons Mais on October 27, 2014 .
Others
Köpke has been President of the German Army Support Group since October 1, 2017, succeeding Lieutenant General a. D. Roland Kather . He is also a member of the Presidium of the German Defense Association (DWT). He is also the initiator and founding member of the Association of Heeresflugabwehrtruppe eV , of which he has been President since September 2016, as well as a founding member of the Association of Protestant Soldiers (GES).
Private
Köpke lives near Bonn . He is evangelical and married. In his free time he is engaged in politics, military history and sports. Originally he wanted to study physics and sports for a grammar school teacher.
Awards
- Army Commendation Medal (US) (1994)
- Gold Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr (1994)
- Meritorious Service Medal (US) (1994)
- SFOR Mission Medal of the German Armed Forces (2004)
- SFOR NATO Medal (2004)
- ISAF Mission Medal of the German Armed Forces (2012)
- ISAF NATO Medal (2012)
- Non Article 5 Medal (NATO) (2004)
literature
- Handbook of the Bundeswehr and Defense Industry 2007/2008, Bernard & Graefe publishing house, December 2007, ISBN 3763762760
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ General Köpke takes over the Office for Army Development
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Deutschesheer.de Change of leadership in the Army Office May 2, 2011; Retrieved June 21, 2011.
- ↑ isaf.nato.int Leadership accessed on May 18, 2012. ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ New Chief of Staff Command Army
- ↑ German Army Support Group V . : Change of President In: Info letter Heer. No. 4, 2017, p. 3.
- ^ German Society for Defense Technology: About the DWT: Presidium. Retrieved April 20, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Köpke, Wolfgang |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 21, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oldenburg in Holstein |