“Of course, there were conflicts, like in Kosovo, but we were still relatively young, and we grew up in such a safe, ideal world. “My generation, I always say, is a bit like a generation without war,” Meister told me between exercises. Her short lapse of Konzentration had cost her. She needed 18 hits to meet the goal set by her instructors. In the end, she hit the enemy’s chest 16 times. But this time, she pulled the trigger too fast between shots, resulting in errant fire. Meister had been doing well for a novice. “Now, she’s awake again!” one of the trainers called out with a laugh. Clouds of sunlit dust rose from the mound of sand behind the target. Shock waves reverberated off the walls of the shooting range, and four shells landed in the gravel near her feet. She set her rifle’s sights to just above the sternum of her fictional enemy, having been instructed by Maesmanns to aim higher to account for the gap between the scope and the barrel, and pulled the trigger. Now, as blasts from adjacent firing areas rang out, Meister took a few breaths to steady herself. The closest she had ever come to firing an assault rifle was at a carnival shooting gallery. Meister, who is 34, works in human resources for a tech company near her home in Lower Saxony, where she serves on the local council as a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party. Maesmanns, a former tank commander who is now a sergeant in Germany’s reserves and an electric-guitar teacher by trade, stood with a supportive hand on Meister’s back. “Konzentration,” ordered her instructor, Oliver Maesmanns, articulating each syllable. Dressed in fatigues, helmet and bulletproof vest, she crouched about 20 yards from two human silhouettes, stand-ins for a hypothetical threat to the German homeland. Under a blazing July sun, Anne Katrin Meister prepared to fire a Heckler & Koch G36, the standard rifle of the German military, or Bundeswehr. For purposes of clarity, this display is simplified through the elimination of numerous headquarters, maintenance and other support units which are normally attached to or associated with the listed combat units. NOTE: This summary of Army Tables of Organization and Equipment includes only combat and directly related major support units. Table of Organization and Equipment Intro to TOE US Army Table of Organization and Equipment FAS |
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