Germany | To Mend a Broken Arm

[Vaka]

October 20, 1996

A man stood in center an cavernous empty warehouse. The air in the warehouse was still and stank of old soviet diesel fuel. He looked up to the ceiling and sighed. There was nothing left. Apart from the dust or the odd tire mark, the warehouse was barren. They looted everything. Not a scrap left. He thought to himself. He had visited at least eight other warehouses like this in the past week. All should have been filled with military equipment. Hell, they at least should have been locked. But all were just as empty as the warehouse where he currently stood. He chuckled to himself as he realized the reality of the situation. The Russians had left and taken their toys home with them. The United States had decided Europe wasn't fun any more and took their fancy planes home with them. One failed "Prussian" administration later and you arrive at the frankly embarrassing state that Germany finds herself in today. Germany had no Army. It had nothing resembling an Air Force. No ships that wouldn't sink the moment they were put out to sea. The man pulled from his front jacket pocket a small note book. He opened to the front page and crossed off an item on his list. He studied the list for a moment. This was the last item on an extensive list to be marked off. At the top of the list he had "15,000 Personnel" circled. He closed the note book and placed it back into his jacket pocket. Well, I guess that's that then. He thought as he headed back towards the entrance of the building. It was a large automated door big enough for a Leopard 2 to drive though with no worry of hitting the top. He turned the lights off and re-entered all the security codes at a panel on the wall on his way out. With the building all closed up he walked back onto the tarmac. The wind went straight through his cheap suit jacket. It was cold for early October and he could see his breath now. The man walked towards an overused 1985 Mercedes E Class that he had instructed his driver to keep running for him whilst he was inside. At least it would be warm in there. He grabbed at the door handle but the door wouldn't open. It was obviously stuck. "You gotta give it some oomph sir!", the man behind the driver seat said loudly. On the third try he got it opened. He slid down into the back seat and slammed the car door hard. The man scratched at his now very prominent 5 o'clock shadow and asked, "Is everything we own horrible?" "Of what is left?, Yea pretty much." said the younger driver now pulling out of the car park and onto a a service road. The man in the back seat stretched out and got comfortable for the long ride back to the air port. "That's the last of them Brock" sighed the man in the back seat, "Take me to the Air Port." "Yes of course Minister Rühe." the driver said while accelerating onto the motorway.

June 12, 1997

"So tell me again why this isn't exactly like what happened with the Americans?" asked a tall man in a fully decorated Luftwaffe uniform. Another man, clean shaven now, chuckled and said “Well for a start we asked them to come.” The two men waited on the tarmac runway of Nörvenich Air Base inside the back seat of a brand new Mercedes-Benz G270CDI 4x4. A Swedish passenger jet had just landed and was slowly unloading the few people who were on board. “I still don’t like being led around like a dog, Volker. Am I in charge of the Luftwaffe or not?” said Lieutenant General Rolf Portz clearly irritated. “Of course you are Rolf. Stop being so East German.” joked the minister of defense. “He is here to help believe it or not.” “Does he have anytime done in the pilot's seat or has he been behind a desk his whole career?” asked the general checking his watch to note the time later in his log. “I have no idea I’ve never met the man.” shrugged the minister.” I only got a name and a flight time from Vice Chancellor Kinkel’s office.” “And a stern warning not to muck this up, Rolf.” he noted. "Fine, Fine." waived the general, "So whats this chaps name? "Major Frank Sundqvist, your new best friend." cheekily smiled the defense minister.


Connor

 

[Connor]

Major Frank Sundqvist would remain to sit patiently in the office on-board an Airbus A330-300 of the Swedish Royal Air Force, reserved for official flights for the likes of the King and Prime Minister of Sweden, however on this occasion the Major found himself sat in a seat and with a view only the highest in Swedish society had ever witnessed. The desk and adaptation of an office chair would sit parallel to a standard-sized oval aircraft window, granting him the view of the aircraft wing, engine and the clouds passing as it slowly began to descend towards Nörvenich Air Base. The Major had spent little time working during the flight, this was the very first occasion Sweden had ever offered military advice to a foreign nation and the pressure was mounting for performance and at the very least to meet the expectation of their German allies, his arm would appear nailed to the small window sill beneath the window next to him as he pondered his thoughts at the view outside. Nonetheless, a member of flight crew would knock the office door, shocking him from his resting stance and cause him to stand, straightening his tie and waving his hand "Yes, yes, please come in!" he bellows towards the closed door before the slim blonde flight attendant opens and pokes her head around the corner "Sir, I'm sorry to disturb, we're preparing for landing now." she says in a confident yet meek response; "Perfect, thank you" said the Major before returning to his seat. It was real now. Moments left until it was his time to shine, time to define his career. Franks eyes would dart across the room to a clothing stand where his royal blue formal dress tunic would swing on a coat hanger and the traditional yellow rope trailing over the shoulder appearing even brighter than it actually was from the sunlight blasting through the small aircraft window.

The aircraft, a matte grey Airbus A330-300 sporting the writing "SWEDISH ROYAL AIR FORCE" in black down both sides, just behind the windows of the cock pit, would begin to descend towards the runway of Nörvenich Air Base. The pilots would converse extensively and expertly with the military air traffic control who, presumably, had been monitoring the aircraft through German airspace anyway. The wheels of the landing gear would project through the bottom of the fuselage as the aircraft thundered lower and lower to the runway before connection and a small cloud of smoke surrounds the rear tyres as the wheels meet the speed of the moving aircraft. Slowly and gracefully the pilots would bring the nose gear down to the runway to bring the complete aircraft to the tarmac below, granting the use of the reverse thrust and speed brakes to bring the aircraft to a slow. A small thud brings the nerves flooding through Frank who would without thought unbuckle his belt and walk himself through to a full-sized mirror attached to the wall in the office, glancing over his uniform he'd remind himself how proud he was to wear it as he stood decked in a white shirt and collar, a dark royal blue tie would trail down the buttons of his shirt which would draw the eyes to a similar coloured dress trouser and extremely well polished formal shoe. Frank grins as he takes the tunic and pulls it over his shoulders; the epaulettes on which would signify his rank in well-polished brass-appearance metals matching that of the buttons down the front and his rectangular name tag displayed on top of his left front-pocket. In addition his right shoulder was well dressed in aiguillettes which were nothing more than decorative fasteners attached to a twined silk cord and metal tips although looked overtly majestic.

Taxiing from the runway, the aircraft would come to a safe stop at a set of stairs permitting the doors to be opened by fellow well dressed flight attendants. Frank would bring himself from the office, not forgetting to grab a dark brown leather briefcase before he did, and walk through the corridor of the aircraft, stopping just before he'd be in view at the top of the staircase. "How do I look?" he'd ask the flight attendant before pulling his cap onto his head "Perfect sir, perfect" she'd reply before moving herself to one side allowing him past. Frank wouldn't return a reply, he'd just smirk before walking to the top of the staircase, giving the German's their first sight of the Swedish officer.

Major Frank Sundqvist. Carrying himself with prestige, confidence and courage. He'd carefully walk himself down the stairs, smiling to the sight of the German General. At the bottom of the staircase, considering the fairly substantial difference in rank, the Major would stand to attention and bring his hand to his head in order to salute the General.

Vaka

 

[Vaka]

The two German men saluted the major and then the Minister Rühe reached out forward to shake his hand. The men exchanged the briefest of pleasantries before getting into the Mercedes 4x4. The Minister Rühe would motion for the major to sit in the back with the general while he made sure to sit up front. The car was already running as evidenced by the slight amount of exhaust coming from the tail pipe. Some soft classical music from a local radio station was coming out of the speakers. The driver was young man named Brock, who usually drove for Minister Rühe. The cabin of the Mercedes smelled of fine new leather fresh off the showroom floor and unfortunately of black coffee as Brock had spilled a bit of coffee on the driver side seat they day before. The whole situation was slightly awkward for the 3 men. The two German men obviously wanted the help from the Swede and his government. The Swedish major genuinely wanted to help his new ally and a good result here would also be great for his career. The German general sat in silence at first, thinking about what to say next. The air was thick with restrained machismo. The General had commanded entire airbases before. He had helped plan the East German air rapid response fleet. He really wanted to tell the major to get lost. How could he take advice from a Major half his age. This was ridiculous. But he also knew how deep in the thick of it he was now. Everything was in disarray after the collapse of the last government and he has been on of the last hold overs from that administration. He was close to many in the ministry of defense but he knew that if this new partnership with the major didn’t go well he would be forced to "retire" early. He would have to take and put pride aside and work together with the Major if they had chance of rebuilding this Air Force into anything approaching respectable.

As the car started off the runway and towards a smaller service road, Minister Rühe thought this a good a time as any to get started, "We have a lot of work ahead of us Major Sundqvist. We are first going to go over to the Head office here at the air base to give you an idea of where we are in the planning stages. There we can show you a list of the available air bases and some of the initial ideas for wing assignments, We also will show you the plans for our subordinated ground based units. Your going to get shown everything as if you were a general taking command of the entire air force." "Nothing will be hidden from you. Should you need to know anything just ask." explained Minister Rühe. The major nodded as he knew full well what was required of him and what unparalleled access he would have.

The car made it's way to the offices at the air force base. Brock parked the Mercedes in the ministers personal reserved parking spot in the small parking garage just outside the main office. The four men exited the car. “I’m gonna go get a coffee and head down to the maintenance bay and see if I can find something to get that stain out of the seat.” said brock as he started walking away from the other men and towards a service elevator. “That’s fine Brock,” acknowledged the minister, “I’ll ring you when we are ready to leave but it might be a while so sit tight.” Brock nodded as he stepped onto the service elevator and back down to ground level. The three remaining men walked towards the main elevators that would take them to main secure conference room on the 5th floor. The small talk was nonexistent. The two military men were all business and the minister read the room keeping all of the silly personal questions he had about the major in head for another time. The walk was no more than five minutes once they got off the elevator to a large set of double doors that lead into the conference room. Walking into the room there was a large table in the center and a smaller table off to the right side. All of the chairs had been moved to one side of the room, no doubt the late night cleaning crew had moved them while vacuuming. The Larger table had two large maps of Germany placed on it. The smaller table had 4 stacks of files neatly labeled. The larger of the two maps showed where all of German air bases were located. The second map showed all of the locations of all of the Air Operation Centers. The general looked through the top stack of files on the smaller desk and pulled out a proposal he himself had put together. “This was my outlined suggestion for a new structure, Major.” stated the general as he handed him the file. The major examined the file. It contained the following typed out.

German Air bases

Subordinated ground based units

Berlin Tegel Airport Executive Transport Wing Büchel Air Base Tactical Wing 33 Cologne Bonn Airport Executive Transport Wing Diepholz Air Base Tactical Wing 81 Erding Air Base Maintenance Regiment 1 Hohn Air Base Air Transport Wing 63 Holzdorf Air Base Helicopter Wing 64 Jever Air Base Tactical Wing 91 Landsberg-Lech Air Base Tactical Wing 83 Laupheim Air Base Tactical Wing 53 Lechfeld Air Base Air Transport Wing 64 Neuburg Air Base Tactical Wing 74 Nörvenich Air Base Tactical Wing 31 Laage Air Base Tactical Wing 73 Schleswig Air Base Tactical Wing 51 Wittmundhafen Air Base Tactical Wing 71 Wunstorf Air Base Air Transport Wing 62

Air Defence Missile Wing 1 "Schleswig-Holstein", in Husum Air Base Air Defence Missile Group 21, in Sanitz and Prangendorf Air Defence Missile Group 24, in Bad Sülze Air Defence Missile Group 26, in Husum Air Base Air Defence Missile Group 61, in Todendorf Air Defence Missiles Training Center, in Husum Air Force Regiment "Friesland", at Jever Air Base Battalion I (Infantry), at Jever Air Base Battalion II (Logistics, Sappers, Firefighters), at Diepholz Air Base Battalion III (Infantry), at Diepholz Air Base Air Operations Center Air Operations Center in Uedem Air Force Support Group, in Kalkar Control and Reporting Center 2, in Erndtebrück Operations Squadron 21, in Erndtebrück Operations Support Squadron 22, in Erndtebrück Sensor Platoon I in Lauda Remote Radar Post 240 "Loneship", in Erndtebrück Remote Radar Post 246 "Hardwheel", on Erbeskopf Remote Radar Post 247 "Batman", in Lauda Remote Radar Post 248 "Coldtrack", in Freising Remote Radar Post 249 "Sweet Apple", in Meßstetten Sensor Platoon II, in Auenhausen Remote Radar Post 241 "Crabtree", in Marienbaum Remote Radar Post 242 "Backwash", in Auenhausen Remote Radar Post 243 "Silver Cork", in Visselhövede Remote Radar Post 244 "Round up", in Brockzetel Remote Radar Post 245 "Bugle", in Brekendorf Control and Reporting Training Inspection 23, in Erndtebrück Education and Training Center, in Erndtebrück Control and Reporting Center 3, in Schönewalde Operations Squadron 31, in Schönewalde Operations Support Squadron 32, in Schönewalde Sensor Platoon III, in Cölpin Remote Radar Post 351 "Matchpoint", in Putgarten Remote Radar Post 352 "Mindreader", in Cölpin Remote Radar Post 353 "Teddy Bear", in Tempelhof Remote Radar Post 356 "", in Elmenhorst Sensor Platoon IV, in Regen Remote Radar Post 354 "Blackmoor", in Döbern Remote Radar Post 355 "Royal Flash", in Gleina Remote Radar Post 357 "Invisable", on Döbraberg Remote Radar Post 358 "Snow Cap", on Großer Arber Deployable Control and Reporting Centre, in Schönewalde Air Force Command Support Center, in Köln-Wahn

On a sticky note on the back page of the file had the following written down.

Generic Air Force Wing (48 Aircraft Total plus Additions)

• Squadron 1 (12 Aircraft)
  • Wing 1 (6 Aircraft)
  • Wing 2 (6 Aircraft)
• Squadron 2 (12 Aircraft)
  • Wing 1 (6 Aircraft)
  • Wing 2 (6 Aircraft)
• Squadron 3 (12 Aircraft)
  • Wing 1 (6 Aircraft)
  • Wing 2 (6 Aircraft)
• Squadron 4 (12 Aircraft)
  • Wing 1 (6 Aircraft)
  • Wing 2 (6 Aircraft)

The minister pulled up some chairs for all three of the men and they sat down and began working on the new layout of the Germain Air Force. "Its just a start Major." explained the General, "A rough draft basically linking what we had in East Germany with what they had over in the West." "We also haven't selected aircraft, radar types, or missile defense systems yet." sighed the Minister. "We have our own ideas for most of the items but would love to hear what you would do if you were in complete control over the defense ministries spending accounts." The Defense minister sat back in his chair and eagerly awaited with the major had to say.

Connor