| 1963 | Platoon Leader with the 222 Mountain Infantry Battalion, Mittenwald, Bavaria |
| 1966 | -1967 S3 officer (operations, training and organization) of the 222 Mountain Infantry Battalion |
| 1967 | studies of history and political sciences at the University of Freiburg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, doctorate (Dr.phil) 11 February 1972. |
| 1968 | Captain |
| 1973 | Major, 16th Command and General Staff Officer Course at the Command and General Staff College, Hamburg, |
| | participation in the U.S. Command and General Staff Officer Course at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. |
| 1976 | G3 officer (operations, training and organization) with Headquarters CENTAG (Central Army Group) at Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg |
| 1978-1980 | Personal Staff Officer with the Deputy Chief of Staff, Federal Armed Forces, Ministry of Defense, Bonn |
| 1982 | Commanding Officer of the 231 Mountain Infantry Battalion till October 1 followed by an appointment as the G3 officer (operations, training and organizations) with the First Mountain Division. |
| 1983 | Full Colonel, Senior Military Assistant to the Defense Minister, Dr. Manfred Woerner |
| 1986 | he assumed command of the 23 Mountain Brigade at Bad Reichenhall , Bavaria. |
| 1988 | Brigadier General, Chief of Staff Section IV "Planning" (NATO forces, conception of the Federal Armed Forces, coordination of the budgetary means for the armed forces and planning management of armament) with the Armed Forces Staff at the Ministry of Defense, Bonn |
| 1990 | Major General in October |
| until June 1993 and commanded the Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College at Hamburg |
| | During this period he also acted as the Vice President of the Clausewitz-Society and was a member in the Advisory Board of the Military Research Institute at Freiburg im Breisgau |
| 1993 | Lieutenant General , Commanding General of the III. (German) Corps at Koblenz |
| 1994 | Commander German Army Forces Command at Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate |
| 1998 | General |
| since 1999 | , Commander Joint Headquarters Centre, formerly known as Headquarters Allied Land Forces Central Europe (LANDCENT), Heidelberg. |
| 1999 | command of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Pristina, Kosovo, replaced by Lieutenant General Juan Ortuño on 18 April 2000. |
