Federal Armed Forces of Wingarde

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Federal Armed Forces of Wingarde
Military manpower
(Jan. 2007)
Military age Voluntary
18 years of age
Availability males & females age 18-49:
1,337.3 million
Fit for military service males & females age 18-49:
1,195.6 million
Reaching military age annually males & females:
50 million
Current size 20.7 million
Expenditure
(Jan. 2007)
Talon figure Ŧ 8,349,366,185,798
US Dollar figure $15,734,380,577,137
Percent of GDP 6.9%

The armed forces of the Democratic States of Wingarde are known as the Federal Armed Forces (German: Bundeswehr). Their Commander-in-Chief is the President in wartime, but the Minister of Defense commands all the branches in peacetime.

These are the:


Introduction

An estimated 20,664,000 personnel currently serve in the military, though the active/reserve proportion depends on the current VERZUS (German: VERteidigungZUStand, Defense Condition in English) level. Due to the recent stability of Wingarde's defense situation, VERZUS has hardly escalated above 5, its lowest setting. That implies only 4,136,272 personnel are actually on active duty throughout the three main branches at the moment, while the other 16,527,728 remain in reserve.

Since their creation in 1947, the Federal Armed Forces have maintained a sensible policy of voluntary service for all citizens aged 18 to 49. Nevertheless, patriotism is strong in Wingarde, and the branches employ 0.7% of the total population.

Despite being comparatively smaller than other armed forces around the world, the Wingardian military receives generous amounts of funding and prides itself in high standards of education, professionalism and discipline. The 8.3 trillion talons (Jan. 2007 figure) reserved for the Federal Armed Forces ensure its members are procured with the best training and equipment available, the vast majority being indigenous materiel.

Wingarde has never taken part in any major conflict, so the military's experience comes from numerous minor operations carried out throughout its 60 years of existence as the nation's defensive institution.

Mission

According to the Federal Constitution, the task of the Federal Armed Forces is "to protect Wingarde, its territory, citizens and interests from both foreign and domestic threats on land, sea and air in defensive and/or offensive operations, whichever is necessary, either on Wingardian soil or around the globe."

Organization

The Ministry of Defense controls the Federal Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense being its Commander-in-Chief during peacetime. However, the President of Wingarde takes charge of the military in wartime. In spite of this, the heads of each branch, along with the Minister of Defense, act as the commander's advisors in such situations.

Branch Heads

Federal Army Grand General of the Army Johannes R. Weigert
Federal Navy Grand Admiral of the Navy Anton F. Schäfer
Federal Air Force Grand Marshal of the Air Force Klaus Wilke

Personnel

There are currently approximately 20.7 million men and women in service in the Federal Armed Forces. Given the current VERZUS level, only 4,136,272 personnel are on active duty. The majority (estimated 16,527,728) remains in reserve. The proportions of personnel in each branch is tailored to Wingarde's defense needs, taking geography into consideration more than anything else.

Personnel in each service

January 2007 figures

Federal Army

Total personnel 5,784,474
Active personnel 1,156,895
Reserve personnel 4,627,579

Federal Navy

Total personnel 8,057,514
Active personnel 1,611,503
Reserve personnel 6,446,011

Federal Air Force

Total personnel 6,817,674
Active personnel 1,363,535
Reserve personnel 5,454,139

Recent military operations

Hijacking of the VLS Koen

Link to thread

nswiki-vlskoen.jpg
The site of operations, the VLS Koen luxury liner

The VLS Koen, a Van Luxemburgian luxury liner, was seized by terrorists in the vicinity of Guyana Island. The government of Van Luxemburg immediately dispatched counter-terrorist units and asked for international aid in order to carry out a joint operation to eliminate the terrorist threat. Wingarde, along with Kjata Major and McKagan among others, quickly responded and sent two Special Combat Forces teams, led by Major Frederik Brentsen to deal with the hijackers. The operation itself, which commenced around midnight, took less than 12 hours. All the terrorists either surrendered or were killed by the allied forces, except from their leader, who escaped. The hostages suffered minimal losses and the ship itself was only lightly damaged, mainly due to heavy gunfire and occasional attacks by allied helicopters. The Wingardian operatives suffered a total of four casualties: two wounded and two killed. (In RL time, this operation extended from August 20th to 24th, 2005).

Guyana Island conflict

Link to thread

Soon after Van Luxemburg granted independence to its former colony, Guyana Island, tensions erupted between the new nation and its former fatherland. After a series of incidents of dubious nature between both countries' military elements, the crisis escalated to outright war. The Guyanans invaded Ostrhain, the closest Van Luxemburgian province in Kreuzbadinsel, with approximately 200,000 troops. The defenders found themselves greatly overwhelmed and were forced to retreat to Westrhain and regroup. In the meantime, Van Luxemburg was preparing a sizeable force to retake the invaded territory from the west coast of their side of Kreuzbadinsel.

President Jakob, seeing Guyana as a threat to the citizens in the Wingardian-controlled South Kreuzbadinsel, issued an ultimatum to the self-proclaimed ruler of Guyanan Island, Thierry Karbel, demanding the cease of hostilities and return of rightfully Van Luxemburgian territory. Triancia followed with an ultimatum of its own. The Guyanan dictator mocked the threats of the two nations and declared war on them too.

nswiki-outrider.jpg
One of the many RPW-5s deployed in
Ostrhain during the conflict

Fortunately the current South Kreuzbadinsel garrison was enough to deal with the enemy invasion force. The 4th Infantry and 9th Armoured divisions were mobilized from Melcheldorf and Küstenfläche to the Westrhain-Ostrhain border, while Federal Navy elements from Task Force Garm were deployed to the Guyana Strait.

Air superiority had been achieved by Van Luxemburg long before Wingarde entered the conflict, but the Navy and Army played a crucial role. Task Force Garm, along with Triancian and Van Luxemburgian naval groups, managed to blockade Ostrhain and cut the enemy supply lines supporting the invaders. The impact of this measure on the enemy was specially devastating, since it allowed Wingardian army units and Triancian marine contingents to wipe out the Guyanans still willing to fight with badly supplied equipment.

Once the main Guyanan force was defeated, the allied forces retook control of Ostrhain and staged a landing on enemy coasts. By this time the opposition's morale was considerably low, and few soldiers thought it was worth to keep fighting. Most of them surrendered, while the scarce remaining loyalists retreated to the jungles, from where they still show some degree of resistance against the occupation troops. Thierry Karbel is thought to have fled Cayenne, Guyana Island's capital, as soon as he received notice of the landing of his enemies on his own soil.

The victorious Wingardian divisions received mixed feelings among the populace when they entered Cayenne. A part of the inhabitants was pleased to have their unpopular dictator taken out of office, whereas others reacted poorly at being under foreign control again. However, the most common feeling among Cayenne's citizens was indifference.

Elections have been scheduled to take place soon. The Guyanans will be given the opportunity to choose their own leader through democracy, and will have their independence restored once a stable, sovereign government is formed and consolidated. (In RL time, this conflict extended from February 26th to March 17th, 2006)


 
Federal Armed Forces of Wingarde
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