Volker Wieker
Volker Wieker (* March 1, 1954 in Delmenhorst ) is a General of the Army and the Bundeswehr since January 21, 2010, the 15th Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr.
Military career
Training and first uses
Wieker occurred in July 1974 when Panzerartilleriebataillon 315 in Wilde squatting in the service of the Bundeswehr. As part of officer training in artillery and a study of surveying at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, he held several management positions in the artillery, including as a platoon leader and troop commander in the armored artillery battalion 315 in Wildeshausen. So he became a lieutenant in 1977, in 1979 promoted to lieutenant and captain in 1984.
Service as a staff officer
From October 1987 to September 1989 he completed 30 general staff course at the Staff College in Hamburg. Following this in 1990 was promoted to Major, and from 1989 to 1991, using as a staff officer or officer in the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defence ( FMOD ) in Bonn. In the period 1991-1992 Wieker completed the General Staff Course at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Back in Germany he was employed from 1992 to 1993 as a staff officer for operations and training G3 in the 21 Armoured Brigade in August the village.
With the promotion to lieutenant colonel Wieker commanded from 1993 Panzerartilleriebataillon 215, which was also stationed in August the village until 1996. From 1996 to 1997 he was employed as a consultant to the management of the Ministry of Defence and completed in this use an overseas deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was set up in 1996 at the IFOR as a staff officer for training and operations, as well as chief of Operations.
From 1997 to 1999 Wieker was used as an aide to the Federal Minister of Defence, and served in that time among ministers Volker Ruhe (CDU) and Rudolf Sharping (SPD). In this use, he was promoted to colonel in 1997. He then took over the management of the ministerial working group the "Army " in the Army Staff.
In September 1999 he took command of the Panzergrenadier Brigade 40 in Schwerin and acted as a Colonel and last commander until its dissolution on 30 September 2002. In this use, he was again deployed abroad, commanded from May to December 2001, the third German KFOR contingent and was also the commander of the Multinational Brigade South.
Service in the rank of general
In 2002, finally, he was promoted to brigadier general and the assumption of the post of Chief of Staff of the Army Office in Cologne under the command of Major Generals Werner Aries and Jürgen Ruwe. For March 3, 2004 Wieker was transferred to Bonn, where he became under appointment as Major General Hans -Otto Budde, in turn, as the new Chief of Staff Army was to Wiekers supervisor, the post of the Chief of Staff at the Army Staff. A post he handed to September 27, 2007 Werner Freer and was moved to Münster. Here he has since been used as the Deputy Commanding General of the 1st German - Netherlands Corps. On 2 July 2008, he finally took over under appointment to lieutenant general in command of this corps. On 9 October 2009 he also took over the post of Chief of Staff of ISAF in Afghanistan under the command of General Stanley A. McChrystal, U.S..
On 18 December 2009, the Federal Minister of Defence Karl -Theodor zu Guttenberg announced that Wieker General Wolfgang Schneiderhan 'll follow to the post of Inspector General of the Bundeswehr. On January 19, 2010 Wieker was appointed General, two days later, on January 21, followed by the introduction in the office.
Wieker criticized as Inspector General 2010 Focus on the procurement of the Bundeswehr. In his estimation, billions are spent on inferior armaments, but do not guarantee proper equipment of the German armed forces. He urged in view of renegotiation with industry on defense projects.
In an interview with the weekly magazine Der Spiegel, he admitted on June 9, 2013, to take the blame for the failure of the Euro Hawk UAV project.
Awards
Wiekers awards include the use Medal of the Bundeswehr IFOR (1996 ), the use Medal NATO (1996 ), the Bundeswehr Cross of Honour in Gold ( 1999), the use Medal of the Bundeswehr KFOR (2001), the Bulgarian Order of Merit (2001), the use Medal Armed Forces (ISAF 2010), the Legion of Merit (2010), the Gold Medal for services in the Netherlands (2011), the award commander with Star of the Norwegian Order of Merit (2012 ) and the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany ( 2013).
Private
Wieker has with his wife Sabine two children together.