Armed Forces, Soldiers and Civil-Military Relations

It is an honor for us to introduce this collection of essays, which is dedicated to an old friend and colleague who is no longer with us. It is an honor, but also a pleasure because we feel like continuing a dialogue with Jrgen; one that has never broken down over the years, revisiting and recalling the diff- ent places and occasions where we met, discussed, collaborated and had fun. We, that is, Giuseppe Caforio, Christopher Dandeker and Gerhard Kmmel who have been friends and/or colleagues of and research collaborators with Jrgen and who represent three prominent institutions and organizations with which Jrgen worked, felt that this book is something we owe to Jrgen and we are grateful that many people who at different times and at different places had contact with Jrgen and his work were willing to contribute a chapter to this anthology. Most of Jrgens studies, professional work and research activities took place at the Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sciences (SOWI). Jrgen, born in 1938, had joined the Bundeswehr in 1957 and had already worked at the SOWIs predecessor institution, the Scientific Institute for Education in the Armed Forces from 1971 onwards after having finished his university? st- ies. Since this institute was renamed SOWI in 1974, Jrgen belonged to the first generation of researchers that worked at the SOWI.