From paratrooper to airport firefighter: Germany's forgotten veterans

Helge Schill has the large Panther drive out. The Panther is a combat vehicle. It's huge and has bumpers at the front so it can drive through locked gates. The vehicle appears accordingly robust, almost a bit exaggerated on a peaceful, sunny day this spring as it rolls onto the apron of the airport in Schönefeld.

The Panther isn't a tank, though. It doesn't wear camouflage paint, but is fire-engine red to make it easy to see. Unlike a war machine, it doesn't fire ammunition, but rather vast quantities of water. The jet, however, is powerful. You shouldn't stand in its path.

The correct name is "airfield fire engine." The airport fire department just acquired it, weighing 52 tons and expensive. The firefighters proudly display it. So there are certainly parallels between the military and Helge Schill's current work.

National Veterans Day in front of the Reichstag: family festival, show acts, stage program

Helge Schill, 51, can be seen everywhere in Berlin right now. His photo has been hanging on Berlin bus stops since mid-May. He is wearing his firefighter uniform. Schill heads the training and continuing education of firefighters at BER Airport, a 270-person team plus 30 trainees. The photos at the bus stops show soldiers, but there's also a clergyman and an athlete. Helge Schill is the only firefighter. Together, they are promoting an upcoming day of remembrance on Sunday on behalf of the Bundestag.

On June 15th, the first National Veterans Day will be celebrated in Berlin in front of the Reichstag building, with a family festival, show acts, a veterans' village, and at the same time, a somewhat more modest celebration throughout Germany. From now on, every June 15th will be celebrated, honoring the achievements of active and former soldiers. Those injured in combat are also touched upon, but this has tended to fade into the background. Politicians want a rapprochement between the Bundeswehr and the population, a sense of community, appreciation – another facet of the much-described turning point. The Bundeswehr estimates the number of German veterans at ten million. The pathetic motto of this year's event: "Shoulder to shoulder. Once there, always connected."

For most, however, their active service is long gone. Helge Schill was an active soldier in the 1990s, later participating in reserve exercises, and today he is involved in homeland security.

When the word "veteran" is mentioned, most people in this country still think of older men in World War II uniforms. Some may have war veterans in mind, and in fact, Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière 's initial push for a memorial day in 2011 was aimed in this direction. It was about the care of soldiers after their deployment. But a different social interaction with soldiers was also desired. It just didn't interest anyone back then.

An initiative by her successor , Ursula von der Leyen, also went virtually unheard. Only with the Ukraine war did this change, and only with Russia's invasion of its neighboring country did defense take on a new social significance in Germany. Things have started to change. This includes the reputation of soldiers. Veterans Day is an expression of the fact that something needs to change here, too.

Maybe not quite like in the US, where veterans are entitled to their own parking spaces in front of supermarkets and where there are parades honoring them. But it's still a new approach.

Helge Schill certainly welcomes the discovery of the veteran, which is still unusual in Germany. "When the Bundestag passed Veterans Day last year, I celebrated. Finally, we have a bit of recognition. It's good for all of us, both former and current veterans." His wife and eleven-year-old daughter are also enthusiastic; they have looked at old photos and also watched the video of the campaign. Schill is looking forward to the celebration in front of the Reichstag. He will bring his family.

Schill was one of 600 applicants for the campaign. His superior supported him, no problem. Schill thinks it's great that the campaign is finally about the people in the force, including former members, even those who may have only completed a few weeks of basic training but would be available to defend the local waterworks in an emergency.

Airport Fire Department, West Fire Station: Anyone who wants to visit Helge Schill at work has to go through the security zone. This means driving for a long time along fences secured with barbed wire. Security gate, special ID, no weapons, no knives, or petrol lighters. There are three fire stations on the airport grounds so that firefighters can reach any aircraft fire within three minutes with large vehicles. And fires do happen quite often; just the day before, there had been two aircraft incidents. Large incidents, however, are extremely rare. "We have a huge spectrum of possible fire sources here at BER, and it requires a great deal of training," says Schill. An airport is like a small town – 70,000 to 80,000 people a day, everything from birth to death happens.

Bundeswehr: First train with conscripts from Berlin in 1992

In Schill's office, a propeller from the First World War hangs on the wall, on loan from the Berlin Museum of Technology. Apparently, it is still the case that you have to come into contact with the Bundeswehr at an early age to build a relationship. Helge Schill is certainly a good example of this theory. His earliest connection to the Bundeswehr was a West German uncle in the navy. Helge Schill grew up in West Berlin in Steglitz-Zehlendorf, where the Bundeswehr had no access. Nevertheless, she did not want to miss out on the young people from Berlin and organized trips for young people to West Germany to get to know them. Schill went to Kiel with the program and saw the navy there and later again the paratroopers in Wildeshausen near Bremen.

A fascination must have remained from these two excursions. In any case, an apprenticeship as a toolmaker at Siemens didn't lead anywhere – "too few people," says Schill. He volunteered to be drafted, which was unusual at the time. As a West Berliner, he wasn't subject to conscription law, and his year of birth wasn't yet conscripted. "It was all my initiative," says Schill. And then, on that April 1, 1992, he actually found himself sitting at Zoo Station on the first train carrying Berlin recruits to West Germany. An experience that is still vivid for Schill today. "Some people chained themselves to the front of the train to stop it," says Schill. He was afraid that this would make him late for his first shift.

Schill describes basic training today as a trial run. Apparently, his expectations were fulfilled, as he signed up for four years. He completed the jumper course, the non-commissioned officer course, and worked as an instructor. He didn't go on overseas deployments. Somalia, the Balkans—the Bundeswehr first sends small troops before later transforming into an operational army. But Schill wasn't there by then.

He stayed until March 31, 1996. One day later, he signed up as a reservist and from then on trained for two to three months a year. At the same time, he started working for the airport fire department. "As a West Berliner, I was really tempted to do something different from the usual. At the same time, I wanted to work with people, not just at a vice, standing at the machine. The Bundeswehr offers a lot of opportunities in this regard. I learned an incredible amount there that I could use later on: how to lead people, how to deal with situations. How to deal with difficult situations, how to endure things. I needed all of that again in the fire department," says Schill. He was successful in the fire department, perhaps also due to his experiences in the military. He headed the airport fire department for eight years. At that time, it was still stationed in Tegel.

Schill apparently left the Bundeswehr for the reason almost everyone cites when they turn their backs on it. "I'm a Berlin native. My girlfriend at the time, family, friends, all lived in Berlin. But I was stationed in Wildeshausen near Bremen. Driving 800 kilometers every weekend. The constant commuting wasn't for me," says Schill.

Everything else was already in place. Schill also works as an instructor in the Bundeswehr, training recruits for his own company. Sports, training, handling technology, traveling on exercises across Europe, sharing what he's learned with other nations. He enjoys it all.

Schill experiences the transformation of the Bundeswehr as a leap: One moment they suspected the enemy was behind the next tree, now they're on the move worldwide. Schill suddenly receives postcards from comrades in Somalia and a new set of equipment. He was a bit annoyed with himself after leaving – just when things were getting exciting. But his career with the fire service was going well. He got married and had children.

"And yet, it never left me. I went to all the meetings, organized some myself, and kept in touch with everyone," he says. Schill has been involved in homeland security since last year. "I want to do something for my country, for my family, my friends, when it matters most. I'm not someone who sits around at home. I have to get things done," Schill says.

From this perspective, Helge Schill is probably the ideal person to establish a link between the Bundeswehr and the airport fire department in the event of a crisis, if BER were to become a logistical hub and a military target. The army and civil society would then have to work together. On this level, too, Germany is only at the beginning of a change that is probably necessary given the changed security situation.

At the time of reunification, the Bundeswehr had 495,000 soldiers, plus reserve companies; currently, the number is around 182,000. This number is expected to rise to 203,000 by 2031, but this is considered difficult to achieve. Of the many people, especially men, who have served in the military at some point in their lives, only about 50,000 are scheduled for specific positions as of 2024. Homeland security is under development. A homeland security division, in which the reservists are organized, has just been established.

Schill sees one of the problems in the lack of social integration. "I didn't like it when conscription was suspended. We drew our recruitment from conscription. We approached the people who were already with us and whom we wanted to keep. That worked. Now it's much more difficult to find people, especially given the current threat situation," says Schill. Added to this are the problems within the Bundeswehr, structures that cause a backlog of applicants even when there are few interested parties.

Helge Schill will soon be training with the Homeland Security Force again: "I have a training plan, and the nice thing about Homeland Security is that I can choose what I want to do, which fits well with my work and home commitments. That's very convenient." His schedule includes guard training, guarding barracks, protecting buildings and objects, handling weapons, and vehicle convoys. A world apart, but concrete. Helge Schill is already looking forward to it.