joergd

The last one for today! The flying fox at the end of the climbers competition. In order to speed the competitors up the instructors where sitting on the rope in order of fighten it more.

Another one.

Here Some more pictures. You will note that the pics show mainly people in civil Outfit. The training for the units was done in the field uniform without Jump boots and the instructors have been wearing sport cloths. Each Unbit has been trained over one Week every year in climbing groups of up to 7 people. At the end of each week each Climbing group had to participate in a climbing competition consisting abseiling, distance march, climbing, first aid, shooting, and a large flying-fox.

Hi Kevin, this pic in the cave was taken always on a day out in the Village of Ruebeland in Harz mountain area where 2 caves are located in the same village. The pic i've posted was taken in 1987 my firsts climbing training camp. The two seen on this pic were two sergeants from the 3rd service year. I'll post some more in the next day's. I've been climbing trainer in the FJB for 3 years. Cheers, Joerg

Hi Gent's, yes we have been trained extensively in Mountain Warfare. The training was conducted every year over a period of 3 months in the mountain area of "Harz" and previously in the "Zittauer Gebirge" close to the Czech Republic. We also conducted various manoeuvres in Thuringia in cooperation with some scout units.

Dear Paul, as far as I remember - yes! He's rank was Hauptmann. I'll see if I can organize a picture from him in Uniform! Regards, Joerg

Hello Paul, To answer your questions from my knowledge: Theoretically it was not difficult but of course the most suitable and best soldiers have been preferred! I receive most of the possible decorations starting with the the jump badge, the qualification badge (don't ask me in what i've done this but i think it was for LMG = Light Machine Gun), the Schuetzenschnur (don't know how you call it in English), Sport badge and in an separate occasion i received the "Best Soldier" (or something like that) badge from the North Korean army! (I'll post a picture when I'm back in Greece). Sorry that i don't know the names of all these badges in English. No, officially we where not allowed to keep our Uniforms, but most of us have been clever enough to "organize" their own during the time of service. At the end most of us have had a complete uniform at home then we left the Army. The Berets where actually the same! The difference was the metal cockade. In the 80's the berets have been adjustable at the back - we actually did not like this version at all and everybody tried to get one from the older years. Getting one of them has often cost a fortune! Yes we did have a Doctor in our unit who (if I remember) has worn the same uniform as all the other officers. Kind regards, Joerg

Sorry here the link: http://www.militaria321.com/suchergebnisse.cfm?q=nva&adv=0&searchcat=0&startat=26&groupsize=25

Scott, please check here....maybe you find something! There are some Paratroopers items (if its not proper labeled in English please check all items with "Fallschirmjäger". Merry Christmas! Joerg

Dear Paul, I served the usual 3 years in our unit! All Paratroopers served these 3 years! Only the newly formed "Heavy Company" a Artillery support unit which was Airborne mainly by Helicopters served 18months! We finished our full 3 years as the last unit before the Wall cam down. All other units after us where not able to finish their full service period! My final rank was "Stabsgefreiter" this as the usual rank for a Paratrooper in his 3rd year of Service. Only if you re-directed into a Sergeant "direction" you where able to receive the rank of an "Unteroffizier" etc. Merry Christmas! Joerg

Nothing really to do with the official badges of our Paratroopers but here is the first version of our Reservists Club badge we have formed in 1992. Cheers, Joerg

Nothing really to do with the official badges of our Paratroopers but here is the first version of our Reservists Club we have formed in 1992. This version was scraped when we changed our club's name. Cheers, Joerg

Hi Guys, here a Pic of our Unit in Parade Uniform. The Parade Uniform contained the orange Barett, the normal presentation Jacket, a so called "Steghose" (sorry i don't know the word in English!) and the Jump-Shoes! As you see the each of us is wearing only a few of the badges as it's in our first year of service! Cheers, Joerg

Scott, Ehrentitle is right! Our uniforms came from the supply ready (almost) made! The collars have been usually on already. The shoulder boards where removable and have been added only when everybody received his uniform and according to his rank! The only thing we had to add (hand sewing) was later on the silver arrow on the arm which indicates that youre serving for 3 years! Please see attached a picture from our swearing-in in November 1986 (Winter Uniform!). This was just two or three weeks after our convocation (hope this is the right word). Our "Basic training" was finished 3 months later! A para trooperschool did not exists in our unit and our pre-army training was carried out -as Ehrentitle already mentioned- in the GST organisation. I did mine over a period of two years where I was mainly trainied in Para-jumping, shooting, truck driving, endurance training etc. Kind regards, Joerg

Hi Scott, it's quiet cheap - provided that it's a real one! I've seen a couple of phantasy versions which have been sold as "real" NVA Paratrooper uniforms. However please post some pics and i can give you my input! Cheers, Joerg