How a Private ordered a battle ready Leopard 2 tank and got it mail delivered
EDIT: Thanks for all the awards - please save the money for the awards and invest it in yourself, your family or community!
**Setting:**
**Date:** mid 90s
**Location:** Germany
**Involved Armies:** Bundeswehr (Germany)
I [promised](https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryStories/comments/r2legx/pfc_bikerjedi_and_his_first_ftx_in_south_korea_or/hm5i9xq/) this story for Christmas but I didn't mention which year ;-)
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#Chapter 1: …and so it begins…
Imagine a very bored drafted german enlisted infantry soldier that works in a medic battalion (Sanitäts Battalion) and is somehow responsible for ordering medic supplies for his company or battalion.
Question: What does a bored medic do with his free time when all the usual sun blocker, aspirin and medical plaster is ordered?
Answer: He starts browsing the supply catalogue on what other potential stuff you could order via logistics. Remember ist was mid 90s not many computers in logistics those days. So he checks the catalogue and finds many many interesting things. You know the usual stuff you need to for an army to go to war. Socks, Guns, tighty whities, ammunition, uniforms, gloves, helmets, artillery and oh…. TANKS! All kind of tanks!
[Flakpanzer Gepard (FlakPz Gepard)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flakpanzer_Gepard) Anti Air Tanks, [Keiler (mine flail)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiler_(mine_flail), [Bergepanzer BPz3 Büffel (Gr. Buffalo)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2#Engineering_and_driver_training_tanks)(Towing Tanks) and BATTLE TANKS!
[A battle ready Leopard 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2) with 40+ rounds for the main cannon and 4500+ rounds for the 7,62mm machine gun.
Hmmm a battle ready Leopard 2 - you would be the king in the night club / disco / the local watering hole with a tank - the possibilities are endless (before you run out of ammo…)
On whim, our unsung hero added the 12 digit monstrosity of the part number for the Leopard 2 on the order list under some cases of sun blocker and aspirin.
**What happens next? Glad that you asked.**
You know, like in every big bureaucracy nobody trusts each other.
Our enlisted hero gives the whole order to his Unteroffizier (Sergeant) to check the order.
The Sergeant to his Captain -
The Captain to his Lt.Col. of the Medic Battalion -
The Lt.Col. to the Base Commander.
You connoisseurs of different camouflage patterns know where this is heading…
The Base Commander signs off on the order of a few cases of sun blocker, aspirin, a single Leopard 2 battle tank, a few palettes of toilet paper (I assume there was chili on the menu in the chow hall a few days ago) and some other stuff you need to run a base….
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#Chapter 2: The Delivery
Now imagine you are on guard duty at the main entry gate of your base, when suddenly a VW van of Feldjäger (Military Police) parks beside the front gate and a few guys with the white MP armbands, rifles, body armor and additional sidearms take position around the front gate. A short time later a convoy arrives with an [Elefant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLT_50_Elefant) (flatbed truck), loaded with a Leopard 2 battle tank painted in the most beautiful color. It’s either olivgrün (olive green) or ~~flecktarn~~ 3-tone woodland pattern (thanks u/NikkoJT for the correct name). I don’t know exactly because it was during that time when there was a recoloring of the Bundeswehr vehicles. I think only submarines were excempt from the new colors.
**Back to the story…**
*Notes: I was told this story by my cousin about 20 years ago. He was doing guard duty when this fantastic story occurred.*
Because he was a Zeitsoldat (regular soldier signed up for a fixed period of time) and somehow higher in rank he was the OvD (Offizier vom Dienst / Officer on Duty for the guards) and got called by the guard at the gate because there was an issue….
My cousin enters the scene:
**Guard:** Äh - We have an issue here. I have some MPs here that want to deliver a Leopard 2 tank *because we ordered it*!
**Cousin:** hold on I am coming out to the gate
At the gate:
**Cousin:** there must be a mistake because we are a medic battalion and don’t have a use for a Leopard 2 and probably nobody who is allowed to drive it.
**Chief MP:** There is no mistake - Here is the singend order for the tank. Your base commander signed the order….
**Cousin:** Okay let me call the base commander….
In the Guard shack at the main gate:
**Cousin:** Colonel Base Commander the Leopard 2 you ordered has arrived. The Feldjäger need your signature for the tank and the flatbed truck. The Leopard 2 is fully loaded with ammunition for the main cannon and the MG and you need to sign for the vehicles and the ammo...
**Base Commander:** I didn‘t order any Battle Tank because we are a base for a medic battalion…
**Cousin:** Sorry Sir, according to the order I am looking right now you signed off on the Leopard 2….
**Base Commander:** <crickets> Hold on I am coming to the main gate!
Base Commander arrives at the main gate takes a look at the papers and agrees that he really ordered the tank.