Colonel, you command the Bundeswehr troops in Mali, a kind of desert expedition, you come from the coast, your parents went to sea. What happened that you didn’t end up in the Navy?
I would have been laughed at back in 1988 if I had joined the Navy. In my family, which sailed on merchant ships, the navy was not considered real seafaring. I still remember the sayings: They don’t go out at wind force 4 anymore! They need a crew of 200 for a ship of the same size, while we can manage with seven! So I didn’t want to join the Navy at all. During the examination it also turned out that I was unfit for the Navy.
