Your Questions About Nine West Commander

Donna asks…

West and East german military integration?

so how exactly did the two german militaries, that is east german and west german militaries, combine to the form it is now. and how is it working for them at the moment

Our pick of the answers:

Established in 1956, the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee--NVA) of the German Democratic Republic was considered one of the most formidable elements of the Warsaw Pact's armed might. It comprised about 170,000 personnel in all three services, which could quickly be expanded to a mobilization strength of 350,000. NVA land forces consisted of six standing divisions and five reserve divisions. The army was equipped with some of the Warsaw Pact's most modern weapons, as well as enormous stockpiles of ammunition. The NVA's structure and training followed Soviet lines. Detailed war plans called for the NVA to combine with other Warsaw Pact forces in a powerful and sudden assault against NATO's central region to overrun Western Europe in blitzkrieg fashion. The offensive use of tactical nuclear weapons was assumed. Although the NVA's weapons and vehicles were maintained at a high level of operational readiness, signs of deterioration and personnel preparedness in manpower were evident even before the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Once the Wall opened, many reservists and some conscripts fled the country, disappearing into West Germany. Authority and morale declined as ordinary soldiers rebelled against strict discipline and military exercises. When soldiers' councils sprang up, NVA commanders bowed to pressure to allow soldiers to wear civilian clothes off post and enjoy relaxed discipline, reduced training time, and an end to political indoctrination. The morale of officers facing the loss of careers and status began to waver as the internal situation worsened and the prospect of unification grew. Until mid-1990 the leadership of the NVA still hoped that the force might survive as a distinct entity in a reconstituted German state. As a result of the summit agreement between West German chancellor Helmut Kohl and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in July 1990, however, the Soviet Union withdrew its objections to a united Germany's membership in NATO. The NVA was disbanded upon unification, and its facilities and resources were taken over by the Bundeswehr. On October 3, 1990, the date of unification, control over all NVA commands and border troops passed to the newly created Bundeswehr Eastern Command. The command's function was to deactivate unneeded units, to dispose of surplus matériel and weapons, and to extend support to the withdrawing Soviet forces. The command was terminated after nine months, and the various elements of the former NVA were transferred to the three chiefs of staff and the medical service corps of the Bundeswehr. The 90,000 NVA service personnel and 47,000 civilian employees who remained were merged into the Bundeswehr on a preliminary basis. It was decided that up to 50,000 of the former NVA troops would be retained as part of the Bundeswehr. Of 14,600 NVA officers, 5,100 were permitted to enter the Bundeswehr for a transition period of two years. Some 70 percent of these--mostly junior officers--would be retained after approval for regular Bundeswehr service and screening to eliminate former members of East Germany's State Security Service (Staatssicherheitsdienst--Stasi). Many of the 25,000 NVA enlisted personnel were assigned to a three-month basic training course with West German units. The dilapidated condition of NVA barracks, mess halls, and other facilities necessitated large expenditures to bring them up to minimal Bundeswehr standards. All 190 NVA general officers were retired, as were all colonels and many other officers over age fifty-five. Most of those retained were no older than thirty-five. Many former NVA officers were demoted by one or two ranks if they were younger than officers of corresponding ranks in the Bundeswehr. Although East German troops had been paid at a lower scale than their West German counterparts, parity was achieved by 1994. Junior NVA officers, unused to exercising initiative, had to be trained in a new doctrine of command. A major effort was needed to instill democratic principles of leadership and a new perspective on historical and political questions. NVA officers had been indoctrinated with communist beliefs and had been considered among the most politically reliable elements of the East German state. Although forced to acknowledge that Marxist theories had diverged from social and economic realities in East Germany, many still tended to view communism as a valid, if utopian, political philosophy. After absorption of the East German armed forces, the six active NVA divisions were converted to brigades, with three brigades in each of two divisions. One division was headquartered at Neubrandenburg and the other at Leipzig. Both divisions became part of IV Corps, which has its headquarters at Potsdam. By a i

Sandra asks…

How old was Louis Armstrong when he visited the moon?

Our pick of the answers:

Didn't want to answer this question cuz it seemed like u were Trolling but get hti bio: Neil Armstrong Biography Neil Armstrong was born on 5th August, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA. His full name is Neil Alden Armstrong. Neil Armstrong was interested in aviation from a young age. At 15 he worked in various jobs in order to pay for his flying lessons. At 16 he got his student pilot's licence before he was legally old enough to drive a car and before he graduated from Blume High School in Wapakoneta in 1947. Immediately after high school, Neil Armstrong received a scholarship from the U.S. Navy. He enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and began his studies of aeronautical engineering, but in 1949 the Navy called him to active duty. In 1950 he was sent to Korea and served as a naval pilot during the Korean War. He flew 78 combat missions from USS Essex in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther. He received three medals: the Air Medal and two Gold Stars for his military service during the Korean War. After the war, he left the Navy and returned to Purdue in 1952 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. In 1955 Neil Armstrong joined NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - now known as NASA) as a research pilot at the NACA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Later that year he transferred to the NACA High Speed Flight Station (now NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California where he worked as a test pilot for many experimental high speed aircraft including the X-15. From 1960 to 1962 he was a pilot involved in the X-20 Dyna-Soar orbital glider program. In 1962 while serving as a test pilot, Neil Armstrong was selected by NASA to join the second group of NASA's astronaut trainees (one of nine NASA astronauts). He moved to El Lago, Texas, near Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center to begin his astronaut training and underwent 4 years of intensive training for the Apollo program. His first assignment was as backup command pilot for the Gemini 5 mission in 1965. In 1966, Neil Armstrong was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8. Gemini 8 mission was launched on March 16, 1966 and achieved the first docking of two orbiting spacecraft. His first space flight was nearly a disaster. He was in the first US emergency in space with his partner David Scott when their spacecraft spun wildly out of control. They returned to Earth safely. He was the backup command pilot for the Gemini 11 mission in 1966 and the commander of the backup crew for the Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission in 1968 using Apollo Spacecraft. In 1968, Neil Armstrong was chosen to be a member of the Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar landing. The Apollo 11 crew were: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 from Cape Kennedy, Florida by a Saturn V rocket. Four days later it went into orbit around the Moon. The lunar module Eagle separated from the Command Module with Armstrong and Aldrin aboard and descended to the surface of the Moon. Michael Collins remained in the Command Module in orbit. During the moon landing, Armstrong took manual control of the Lunar Module Eagle and piloted it away from a rocky area and made a safe landing on the moon. His first words from the Moon were: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed".

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