Bundeswehr practiced the deployment

From June 17 to 21, 2024, an exercise involving around 100 soldiers from the district and county liaison commands of the State Command Baden-Württemberg took place at the Karlsruhe Kirchfeldkaserne with the scenario of supporting a possible deployment of NATO forces to the designated areas on the eastern flank of the alliance and providing assistance during natural disasters. The so-called staff exercise aimed to train the cooperation between the Bundeswehr and civilian administrative staffs that would be activated in a crisis situation at the district and government district levels. The county liaison commands of Böblingen, Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, Rems-Murr-Kreis, Stuttgart, and the district liaison command of Stuttgart were on-site for the first half of the week for two and a half days. In the second half of the week, the county liaison commands of Göppingen, Heidenheim, Hohenlohekreis, Main-Tauber-Kreis, and Schwäbisch-Hall were exercised.

The liaison commands each consist of twelve soldiers: a leader, a deputy, situation officers, situation non-commissioned officers, and ranks with medical expertise. These experts represent the Bundeswehr support cell at the district and government district levels and advise the civilian authorities on possible Bundeswehr support within the scope of assistance. The Bundeswehr generally only provides support subsidiarily, meaning based on available capacities and when civilian resources are insufficient.

The liaison commands are composed exclusively of reservists and were confronted with various scenarios during the exercise. This included the coordinated deployment of troops through Baden-Württemberg, which was significantly affected by severe weather in this scenario.

In addition to the approximately one hundred soldiers, observers from emergency services, such as the State Fire Brigade School, were also present to experience the importance of mutual support in various situations.

A central element of the exercise was the establishment and operation of a Bundeswehr support cell of the county or district liaison command, which tracked the situation on situation maps in shifts and assisted in the application of requests for assistance. Special attention was given to ensuring smooth communication and efficient information exchange.

Training in dealing with media and disinformation was also on the agenda, as disinformation and fake news are increasingly prevalent in the media. Therefore, a healthy source criticism is necessary to carefully examine the intent behind the spread of news. In addition to analyzing the information space, it is equally important to actively shape it, which was also part of the exercise. "Speaking in front of a camera is already a special challenge," said Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Lueginger, the head of the Stuttgart county liaison command.

"Such exercises are essential for us and our reservists to train procedures and develop standards, in order to be able to react quickly and reliably in a real crisis," explained Colonel Markus Vollmann, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the State Command Baden-Württemberg. "They help us identify and rectify deficiencies and continuously improve our procedures and processes. High professionalism is our standard."

"As reported to me, the exercise was a complete success and once again demonstrated the importance of close cooperation between the various actors," emphasized Colonel Thomas Köhring, Commander of the State Command Baden-Württemberg. "In particular, the changed security situation means that the Bundeswehr also relies on support from the civilian sector to realize the potentially necessary deployment of troops," the commander added.