Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

Reader mode

ejpsan

What I think will happen to Erik is that he finds that being a letter carrier is a good life and every Friday and Saturday night he goes to whatever the German version of the American Legion or the VFW wearing his ball cap that identifies him as a veteran of the 3rd Marine Infantry Division and has a couple of beers.
He marries a nice widow with a couple of children when he is in his late thirties or early forties...Ah who I am kidding, he has the Blood of Schultzes past running thru his veins, something big and important is going to involve him.
 

Loki-L

Becoming a postal worker would be a pretty cushy deal at this point still. Good money and benefits a stable job, routine and a good union.

Also keep in mind that unless butterflies intervened the German Post is still a sort of federal agency with workers having special "Beamter" status and if it develops like it did in OTL it will be the place where much of the future of communication gets sorted out.

Before its privatization in 89, the post was responsible for anything from telephones and telefaxes to cable-TV and a host of other stuff that fell into the broad category of "sending messages". Its descendants now act as ISP, bank, cell phone provider, cable-tv provider, phone company, parcel service and letter deliverers.

With computer technology and especially networking seeming to be more advanced in this timeline there is a lot of opportunity there.

The Post in this timeline will likely soon have some of their own communication satellites and offer all sorts of services connected with the emerging computer industry.

There is a future there, both for a humble letter carrier as well as some more exotic jobs includign intelligence.
 

EWilanO

If you really want to be sneaky, you could hide the analystics branch inside the accounting section of the postal service.

Then you have the Post's SIGINT capabilities, the financial data and finally, all those postmen give you the ability for some significant HUMINT, because who would distrust some friendly Post official just doing his job.
 
Rinasoir

Rinasoir

EWilanO said:
If you really want to be sneaky, you could hide the analystics branch inside the accounting section of the postal service.

Then you have the Post's SIGINT capabilities, the financial data and finally, all those postmen give you the ability for some significant HUMINT, because who would distrust some friendly Post official just doing his job.
Click to expand...

I've worked for the postal service. I wouldn't trust them with a 1c Coin.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Well translating Beamter to civil servant is just a bit oversimplifying things. A German Beamter has a very deeply rooted special relationship with the government. Basically the Beamter has to take an oath on the constitution, there are several (and this is the 60s ITTL with a German having won two wars so it might even be stricter) qualifications one must meet to get into this position (and yes that included leading a good life).
For his faithfulnees to the government (no strikes allowed as one thing) he has a lifelong position (unless of course severe crimes done) and a guaranteed old age payment which is quite good. This also means they are not part of the general pension system in Germany. Basically the law was and is that the state must pay the Beamten in a way that guarantees a certain (and a good one for that) standard of life until death.
It was during the Kaiserreich and the Weimarer Republic a caste that looked with pride upon that special position. Of course the post man in rural Brandenburg is different than the high level people in the government but the general status still applies.
As bribery is one of the reasons one can lose this position (and losing the position also means 100% of the pension is forfeited), yes, there have been corrupt Beamten but by and large it is a great help to a pretty incorruptible civil service, police and justice.
 

FBKampfer

Banned
Darth_Kiryan said:
What, like and inverse of Emil Holz and Augustus Lang?
Click to expand...

No, like his own man. Besides, I don't think Emile or Lang ever had any PARTICULAR loyalty to the royal family. Lang possibly the opposite, having lead the student revolution.

If you want to make that comparison though, it would just be Emil or Lang, but more extreme and accepting of use of force.
 

embo

FBKampfer said:
No, like his own man. Besides, I don't think Emile or Lang ever had any PARTICULAR loyalty to the royal family. Lang possibly the opposite, having lead the student revolution.
.
Click to expand...

Considering Langs motivation and issues didn't really have anything to do with the royal family i wouldn't call him particularly disloyal to the royal family...

And then he went "I WILL FUCKING END YOU" on the soviets, when they tried to kill them, and then he did end them.
 
NHBL

NHBL

embo said:
Considering Langs motivation and issues didn't really have anything to do with the royal family i wouldn't call him particularly disloyal to the royal family...

And then he went "I WILL FUCKING END YOU" on the soviets, when they tried to kill them, and then he did end them.
Click to expand...

Lang thought of the riyal family as an anachronism, but not an enemy. The Soviet attack on the royals was an attack on Germany, not just on the royal family. Even the most ardent Trump haters, or Clinton haters, would be outraged if a foreign, hostile, power tried to kill them.
 

ejpsan

Kaiser Louis Ferdinand is probably right now the most admired and trusted man in the world so I can see him getting such posts as the head of the International Red Cross, International Olympic Committee, the League of Nations equivalent of UNESCO, UNICEF, or even the head job at the LON itself.
He could also be called upon to mediate disputes between countries, so I really don't have any fears about him sitting around the house doing nothing and being a nuisance to Charlotte like other men when they retire.
He can have some fun now by having Ben assigned to him as a temporary aide until Ben goes back to university, in that way Ben can get some exposure to the protocol in court.

Karl it looks like he found a home in the Marine Infantry and maybe he will become a combination of Rieir and his Uncle Jost.
 

Darth_Kiryan

ejpsan said:
Kaiser Louis Ferdinand is probably right now the most admired and trusted man in the world so I can see him getting such posts as the head of the International Red Cross, International Olympic Committee, the League of Nations equivalent of UNESCO, UNICEF, or even the head job at the LON itself.
Click to expand...

Assuming of course that Lothar does not blow him up....
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top