Border Guard Quali Badge

[Mike G.]

In the second picture, everything seems okay. The grenzabzeichen and vehicle classification badge are correctly positioned and displayed. We don't know if he has the correct visor hat because it is no where to be seen. It is the first photo that is peculiar, and I cannot but help wonder if his uniform was not for reasons we may never know, intentionally messed around with.

[Dag]

Also look at the medals. NVA mertious service and 20 year service medal. Would a stabsfaenrich have really served that long or had that particular NVA medal?

Why should a Stabsfaehnrich not have served that long?
The times you signed up for were the 'minimum', i.e. someone who signed up to be a Faehnrich had to serve a minimum of 15 years.
It is also not clear which path he followed. If he started as a long term NCO (minimum 10 years) he could have decided to become a Faehnrich. If he already was a Oberfeld-or Stabsfeldwebel (having served between 6-10 years) when he made taht decision, he would do the required training and become a Faehnrich. He would then serve his time as Faehnrich, Oberfaehnrich, Stabsfaehnrich - again, that can easily get him over 20 years service.
Finally, it also depends on what he was doing. Because he has the Quali-badge for KfZ-Wesen, he was most likely serving in a technical capacity. It could well be that in this position he could only reach the rank of Stabsfaenrich, regardless how many years he served.

I think I mentioned the following example before: In our Regiment, we had a Stabsfeldwebel who was in his late 40ies. he wasa technical specialist in his field and could not progress further (in terms of rank).

Dag

[Mike G.]

Thank you Dag for the detailed explanation regarding the technical specialty field for the warrant officer position in the East German Military. It was very much the same in the US Army. You could transition into certain specilized fields from the enlisted NCO rank over to warrant officer. After that, even if you remained on active duty for 30 or more years, if you did not leave the specialized field, you remained a warrant officer, of which for a very long time, there wre only four levels. In the very late 80s they created a fifth, which was Master Warrant.

Dag, do you have any thoughts or ideas about what might be going on with the first photograph? It seems very odd with the hat size problem and the observation the classification badge clearly is upside down. It and the grenzabzeichen also appear to be a little off with respect to their location on the tunic as well. It almost seems to me that perhaps some of his colleagues messed around with his uniform before the picture was taken or something. Maybe they replaced his hat and turned his classification badge upside while his tunic was off, or something ...... I don't know. Something was going on. ???

[RedBaran11]

Thanks Dag. I i really dont know anything about how long soldiers erved.

[Dag]

Dag, do you have any thoughts or ideas about what might be going on with the first photograph? It seems very odd with the hat size problem and the observation the classification badge clearly is upside down. It and the grenzabzeichen also appear to be a little off with respect to their location on the tunic as well. It almost seems to me that perhaps some of his colleagues messed around with his uniform before the picture was taken or something. Maybe they replaced his hat and turned his classification badge upside while his tunic was off, or something ...... I don't know. Something was going on. ???

I'm not sure, really.

First of all, I do not think that the photo and the paperwork are related. I can not remember if 'Eintragung in das Ehrenbuch' ( being added to the book of honours) was a military award. And if it was, it would not necessarily include a photo. However, taking a photo in front of the regimental flag was a military award.
The photo itself could be down to the following: Suddenly somebody higher up the ranks realised that photos need to be taken - for whatever reason. Now, everyone is in a hurry and the medals are put on as quickly as possible -nobody notices one is upside down.

I know, it is an attempt to explain - not more.

Dag

[Mike G.]

Hi Dag,

I'm in agreement with you. I don't think the picture is necessarily related to the award. It could also be that for whatever reason the picture was taken, there actually is more than one, and the one appearing on this forum and this particular thread, was actually one meant in jest. I know when I was in the service, we would on occasion, pull practical jokes and pranks on one another, especially with respect to uniforms. Sometimes it would just be nothing more than turning the rank insigina upside on baseball caps just before turning out for the morning first accountability formation. These often times included a spontaneous in-ranks inspection.
It was all in good fun and normally no one got into any trouble.

I really don't know what to make of the first picture, but I think viewers should focus on the second photo, which appears to be good to go as far as I can tell.

Again, thanks Dag for your input.