Günter Friedrich Weiler (born 27 April 1951 in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

, West Germany) is a retired

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

of the German Army, the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

. From 16 September 2010 until 9 April 2013, he was the Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr.

Initial service

Weiler joined the

in 1969 and was assigned to Battalion 44 in Arolsen. He started his training as an armored officer and in 1974, he became a tank platoon leader. He continued his service as an intelligence officer (S2). In 1976, Weiler became the company commander of the 2nd Company of Panzer Battalion 54 (later 64), in Wolfhagen. In 1982, he entered the general staff course at the Bundeswehr Leadership Academy in Hamburg, where he graduated in 1984. Subsequent to his graduation, he was promoted to major and transferred to

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

, where he served on the staff of I Corps as a general staff officer for operations and training. One year later he was assigned as the chief of staff of the 30th Mechanized Brigade in

Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants. ...

, where he served from 1985 until 1987. In 1987, Weiler was transferred to the

Federal Ministry of Defence The Federal Ministry of Defence (german: Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, ), abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at ...

, in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. He served there until 1989 as a military adviser for policy in the Ministry of Defence. After this assignment, he took command of Panzer Battalion 184 in Boostedt until 1991. Subsequently, he was assigned to the Bundeswehr Leadership Academy in Hamburg, where he served as a lecturer on military leadership for the general staff course. In 1992, he returned to the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn, where he served from 1992 until 1994 as press secretary for Lieutenant General Helge Hansen, who was the Inspector-General of the German Army. From 1994 until 1997, Weiler served as adjutant to the Federal Minister of Defense,

Volker Rühe Volker Rühe (born 25 September 1942) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as German Defence minister from 1 April 1992, succeeding Gerhard Stoltenberg during the first government of a reunified Germany i ...

General officer

On 5 September 1997, Weiler took over the command of Panzer Brigade 39, in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

until the unit was disbanded on 30 September 2001. In 1998, during this assignment, he deployed overseas with

SFOR The Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian war. Although SFOR was led by NATO, several non-NATO countries contributed troops. It ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, where he served as commander of the Multinational Brigade Centre in Rajlovac. In 1999, he was promoted to brigadier general. In 2001, Weiler moved to Berlin where he served until 2005 as the first deputy in charge of the planning staff. Promoted to major general, on 1 March 2005 he took command of the 14th Panzergrenadier Division in

Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg (lit. ''New Brandenburg'', ) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland. The city is famous for its ...

. He led 14th Division for a year until April 2006. Promoted to lieutenant general in 2006, Weiler was then assigned as the Deputy Inspector-General of the Army until autumn 2010. For his final assignment, Weiler was assigned as the Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr on 16 September 2010, succeeding Lieutenant General Johann-Georg Dora. Lieutenant General Weiler retired from military service in 2013.

Awards

On 3 October 2010, at a ceremony in Berlin, Weiler represented the Bundeswehr for the presentation of the Quadriga Award.

References

External links

Bundeswehr - Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiler, Gunter Deputy Chief of Staff of the Federal Armed Forces 1951 births Living people Lieutenant generals of the German Army Military personnel from Duisburg