Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Great to see the return of Lenz Schultz and Suse Rosa taking up sailplaning is both logical and surprising at the same time.

For the problem of Kiki out ranking her instructors all is needed is for Kiki to be reminded is that she has no authority over them and she has to follow their orders in regards to her training.
 
Great to see the return of Lenz Schultz and Suse Rosa taking up sailplaning is both logical and surprising at the same time.

For the problem of Kiki out ranking her instructors all is needed is for Kiki to be reminded is that she has no authority over them and she has to follow their orders in regards to her training.
Exactly! Not that Kiki would give an owls hoot over being/not being promoted I suspect.
 
The easiest way to handle Kiki's promotion is to grant it but place it on hold for a while, then, when she does finally get it, backdate the change of rank to indicate that she had actually earned it earlier AND state very clearly why granting it had been delayed. That way, she does not lose any actual seniority in terms of time-in-rank/service & should avoid most of the complications that might arise if... when... some idiot decides that she wasn't deserving of further promotion because "she had been denied promotion earlier".
 
That would be my solution too.
Promotion with effect from x to be conferred once training is complete.
Even if it were immediate, a good officer would be fine with being trained by anyone from the lowest Soldat upwards if they know their stuff.

Another lesson that Kiki may have been subconsciously taught by Kat...
 
That would be my solution too.
Promotion with effect from x to be conferred once training is complete.
Even if it were immediate, a good officer would be fine with being trained by anyone from the lowest Soldat upwards if they know their stuff.

Another lesson that Kiki may have been subconsciously taught by Kat...
Experts are experts regardless of rank or title.
 
Part 109, Chapter 1792
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety-Two



21st April 1967

Cam Ranh, Viet Nam

The air was shattered as Taxidiotis V lifted off the pad. Albrecht watched as Mission Control went about their duties as the shutters that protected the windows of the blockhouse all stayed open this time. This was to be his last launch in charge of the Program and during the pre-launch meeting Werner von Braun had been jubilant over the prospect of finally being free of him. Albrecht knew full well that the Professor’s happiness would be short lived. The other members of the ESA were emphatic that the next Mission Director should not be German, so his designated successor had already been named, General Nikolai Kamanin. He had a reputation of not taking shit from anyone and if Professor von Braun thought that he would be allowed to run wild again he was in for a rude awakening.

As bothersome as von Braun was, Albrecht had greater headaches to contend with today. His father showing up in Cam Ranh hours before the launch with the Japanese Emperor in tow had been unwelcome surprise, the Emperor of Vietnam had shown up later at their invitation. Presently, Emperor Hirohito and Emperor Bảo Đại along with Prince Elector Manfred von Richthofen zu Silesia were watching from the elevated observation lounge where they stashed VIPs so that they could watch without causing trouble while feeling important. So far, no one had figured out that it was sound-proofed and that the sounds of Mission Control were piped in. It was all so that the VIPs in question could be completely ignored during the launch.

Albrecht knew that he couldn’t ignore them for long though.

After the death of Käte von Richthofen-Otersdorf, Albrecht’s mother, Manfred the Elder had started correspondence with Emperor Hirohito of Japan regarding the exploits of his dog Rust, who happened to be an Akita, a breed considered a National Treasure by Japan. The result was an invitation to visit Tokyo and Manfred had boarded a plane a few weeks later.

“That was impressive” Manfred said as soon as Albrecht entered the lounge, he was wearing his old Field Marshal’s uniform though he had retired twenty years earlier. Much to Albrecht’s annoyance, all the personnel on hand were a lot more inclined to defer to his father than they ever had for him.

In the minutes that followed, there were a lot of handshakes and bowing. Albrecht swiftly relearned that in both Japan and Vietnam the Kaiserliche Marine was held in great esteem. When he saw his father’s guarded expression, he realized that this entire introduction had been contrived. Manfred expected that one day Albrecht would follow as Prince Elector of Silesia and was preparing him for that, both the Governments of Vietnam and Japan would see him as an important figure after this.



22nd April 1967

Jena

The magazine that Ben was reading was talking about the recent archaeological finds in South America. A welcome escape from the Astronomy that consumed his days. He had come from Berlin the night before only to find Kiki exhausted and completely consumed by work, it had been all he could do just to get her to stop for a few hours so that she could sleep. Now, early Saturday morning, she was up and back at it before the Sun was up.

Kiki was wearing the clothes she wore as pajamas while seated at her desk banging away on her typewriter. She also had several folders on hand that were filled with accident reports and some of the most horrific photographs that he had ever seen. “That is why you should always wear a seatbelt” Kiki had said when Ben had asked her about those. Now hours later, she was banging away at what Ben had belatedly realized was a Doctoral Thesis. Eventually, she stopped and took off her glasses. Normally, that was a sign that she was through for the day, but this time she seemed conflicted. She got up from the desk and threw herself onto the bed, landing next to Ben in a huff.

“You must think that I am completely mental” Kiki said.

“No” Ben replied, “But I do think that you are getting a bit ahead of yourself. This isn’t like you panicking over Girenkopf again?”

Kiki frowned when he brought that up. The estate that Ben had been granted to him by the King of Bavaria didn’t have a single bit of level ground anywhere on it, just mountains and forests up against the Austrian border. Kiki had been certain that Ben was going to get soaked when the tax bill came due on the property, instead he had learned that the Astronomy Department of the University of Berlin was looking for a location to build an observatory. They were perfectly happy to lease a corner of Ben’s property if it sat atop a 1600-meter peak and was far enough away from any cities that there was little in the way of light pollution.

“No” Kiki replied, “I learned that further promotion for me has been deferred until I complete my education, I’ve been told that it will be back-dated when I finally get it. The soonest I will be able to take the second State Medical Exam is next year, the third a year later. The thesis will need to be done by then.”

“What’s the problem then?” Ben asked, “Besides that, I thought that you didn’t care about Rank? Only being able to help people.”

“I have found that it helps people take me seriously” Kiki replied.

“I see, two years is a long time though” Ben said, “Working without rest until you get sick again will not help with that.”

It had been a long time since that had happened. When Kiki had had been going through the University of Berlin’s Sanitäter Program she had done that on more than one occasion because of the same impatience that she was showing now.
 
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Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety-One



2nd April 1967

Over the Austro-German Border near Kiefersfelden

“Remember to always turn out from the ridge” Lenz said from the back seat of the sailplane as the tones from the variometer became lower pitched and further spaced.

What is the lady flying? Schweizer made (IOTL) something they called the 2-32 which is not bad for a trainer. Two seats, bubble canopy and able to take a beating cause, well, students.
 
Richtofen senior needs to show some love for Albrecht sometime outside of the political BS.
Sure, but he can't.

Not that he won't, not that he doesn't want to, but that he can't as simply the man does not know how. Short of a deathbed confession to Albrecht that he is very proud of him and glad that he his son, Manfred has no frame of reference for what to do.

Essentially, short of Manfred getting a really good shrink, it ain't happening.

As for Kiki, two steps forward....
 
What is the lady flying? Schweizer made (IOTL) something they called the 2-32 which is not bad for a trainer. Two seats, bubble canopy and able to take a beating cause, well, students.
Schleicher ASK 13

Schleicher_ASK_13.jpg
 
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I don't see what the issue with the promotion is. In the military (or similar institutions) to hold rank and to hold position is not necessarily the same thing. There's also the frequent issue of different chains of command, and even delegation of authority. The main difference would probably be that the method of address a higher rank is more polite, but that'd be about it, and it's not necessarily rare that rare that a higher rank would be under the authority of a lower one, especially in an educational institute setting.
 
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Prince-Elector Manfred von Richthofen is fuled by 100% Pure Ego and he is paying his son Albrecht the ultimate sign of respect by treating him as a rival, that is something he never did with his oldest son the late Lothar von Richthofen.
After his close encounter with the boar von Richthofen now has a new burst of enthusiasm for life and his new project is going to breed the "Emperor Line" of Akitas the ultimate symbol in prestigious hunting dogs for the most serious hunters in Europe.

Ben is doing his most important duty in his relationship with Kiki, preventing her from burning herself out.
He is going to have the last laugh over the King of Bavaria when the University of Berlin builds the World's largest telescope on his property to be nicknamed "Kiki" I am of course assuming that the Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County has only not been butterflied away but also with no ITTL participation by the United States in WW II it was built sooner. Right Peabody-Martini, please do not take away my Third Grade, Seventh Grade, High School Sophomore and Senior Years field trips.
 
I am of course assuming that the Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County has only not been butterflied away but also with no ITTL participation by the United States in WW II it was built sooner. Right Peabody-Martini, please do not take away my Third Grade, Seventh Grade, High School Sophomore and Senior Years field trips.
I would think this would be the sort of bone one could throw the Americans reading? Please.

They need something P-M, and ejpsan is one missed infrastructure project away from crying.
 
Knowing the themes in this story the telescope will open just before the san andreas fault rumbles and demolishes it...
 
He is going to have the last laugh over the King of Bavaria when the University of Berlin builds the World's largest telescope on his property to be nicknamed "Kiki"
It depends, it it's named Kiki she might get miffed, name it for the Bavarian King and you're picking up brownie points for later.

I am of course assuming that the Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County has only not been butterflied away but also with no ITTL participation by the United States in WW II it was built sooner. Right Peabody-Martini, please do not take away my Third Grade, Seventh Grade, High School Sophomore and Senior Years field trips.
Well, If Germany has the biggest something, America must compete, so I suspect your field trips are secure.
 
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It depends, it it's named Kiki she might get miffed, name it for the Bavarian King and you're picking up brownie points for later.
If it's to be named for a Bavarian monarch, then Ludwig II please.

Let the Swan King forever watch the beauties of space and the dance of the stellar bodies.
 
King of Bavaria: "And here is the land grant that comes with your new title." - (Thank God I finally got rid of that useless chunk of mountains. Poor sod is going to be crippled by land taxes & you can't farm or log that region easily. I can be a right bastard at times)

Some time later, after the announcement of the construction of the telescope complex in the mountains and a corresponding increase in mountaineering, hiking & astronomy tourism....

King of Bavaria (reading a newspaper article on the subject): "That sneaky, conniving, under-handed, scheming son-of-a-bitch!!! The little bastard will take the rest of the Adel to the cleaners if they underestimate him they way I just did."

- 'When asked about how he planned to pay the land taxes on such uneconomic lands, Raumsfahrer Hirsch replied that it was only uneconomic in regards to agriculture. The Observatory complex being built on land he had leased to the university and the hotel developers plannning a resort designed to allow people to enjoy the unparalleled views of the night skies without spoiling those views with excessive light, or interfering with the new observatory, should provide an economic boom to the region and the rents on both should more than cover the land taxes.'
 
Recruiting Ilsa to help put in place plans and policies to maintain that lack of light pollution as well as minimizing any tourist impact would be a good move. Also a good low impact tourist idea for the mountains is gliding since one of the recent updates show that this is a fairly popular activity still in Germany.
 
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