Category: MOV

Why the Navy? by: AG JuMOV The MOV has a new event format: on Thursday 24 September, the so-called "Virtual Officer Fair", or VOM for short, took place for the first time. 17 officer cadets and officers, from sea cadets to flotilla admirals, gathered at completely different locations in front of their home devices such as PCs, tablets or smartphones and discussed the question "Why the navy?" together. Although the topic is a perennial favourite in German-speaking security policy discourse, Flotilla Admiral Wilhelm Tobias Abry, in his role as commander of the Mürwik Naval Academy and guest speaker at the first VOM, comprehensively highlighted why it is currently more important than ever to reflect on one's own identity and the associated professional ethos. The geopolitical changes of recent years, which have not yet come to an end, provide a reason for this. Abry derived his thesis from strategic considerations and critically reflected on defence policy decisions of the past decades. The concentrated faces of the participants, who were connected via camera, showed that his explanations were not just dry theory. At the end of Abry's introduction, the question then arose as to what contribution each and every individual could make to equip their own branch of the armed forces for the future. The temporary distance to the fleet during studies, training courses and interim assignments was identified as a major challenge. This is also nothing new, but in view of the permanent digital availability of maritime content, it is all the more painful to be on the periphery instead of in the places of...