In addition to 16,000 professional soldiers and 8,000 civilian employees, the Austrian Armed Forces consist of an average of 6,000 conscripts and can mobilize up to 31,000 militia soldiers in the event of an operation. One of these 61,000 members of the armed forces is staff sergeant Patrick Wittmann, who works as a teaching sergeant for weapons technology at the Army Logistics School in Vienna.
Mr. Stabswachtmeister, what does your day-to-day work at the Army Logistics School look like?
In our workshop, we train both cadre candidates and those who want to become a weapons master as part of a retraining program. Theoretical and practical training is provided on all infantry weapons used by the army.
What stages have you already been through in the army?
I was a weapons technician on the Leopard main battle tank and an infantry weapons master in tank battalion 33. As this unit was converted into a fighter battalion, I was transferred to the Army Logistics School in Vienna.
What is the appeal of your job as a training sergeant?
The job is always interesting, as the course participants usually ask the teaching staff very different questions. Especially those who come to us as part of a retraining course for a different type of weapon. They have years of experience with firearms and exciting new questions arise.
“In our workshop, we train both cadre candidates and people who want to become master gunners as part of a retraining program.”
There are constant innovations in your field of work. How do you stay on the ball?
Mainly through company training courses, but also through further training at the Office of Armaments and Defense Technology. But the most important thing is to keep “working” on the weapon yourself in order to gain experience. https://militaeraktuell.at/die-expertenschmiede-des-bundesheeres/
Here to our troop visit at the Army Logistics School and here to the other portraits in our series “One of 61,000”.
