Broer, Thomas Clemens
Surgeon General of the German Armed Forces
Born: 02.09.1976 in Wiesbaden
Died: 15.04.2010 in Baghlan-i-Jadid, Afghanistan

Thomas Clemens Broer was born on September 2, 1976 in Wiesbaden-Sonnenberg as the only child of a self-employed electrician. Broer's mother worked as a commercial employee in the family business. As a child, he initially attended the St. Georg kindergarten in Wiesbaden-Frauenstein near his home. In 1982, Broer started school at Schelmengraben elementary school. After elementary school, he transferred to the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule in 1987 and then to the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Oberstufengymnasium in Wiesbaden-Klarenthal. He studied mathematics and biology in the upper school. During this time, he was also involved in the student council and had already been class representative at elementary school.

During his time at school, Thomas Broer successfully played team sports. From 1984, he played handball with great success at the Dotzheim Gymnastics and Sports Club, through whose youth teams he played. As an A-youth player, he competed for TuS Dotzheim in the highest handball league for youngsters, the Oberliga. At the same time, Broer coached the club's male E-youth team from 1993 to 1996. Broer also played for various men's teams at his home club as a young adult.

In November 1995, while still at school, Broer applied for voluntary service as an officer in the German Armed Forces at the relevant registration office in Wiesbaden. The 19-year-old stated that he wanted to become an officer and study medicine. In January 1996, he initially signed up as a temporary soldier for 16 years. He later extended this commitment to 18 years.

After Broer graduated from high school in June 1996 with an average grade of 1.2 and passed the necessary entrance examinations and tests, he was commissioned as an officer candidate in the Navy's medical service with the rank of sailor on July 1, 1996.

This was followed by basic military training at the Naval NCO School in Plön and at the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg, the German Navy's officer school. In the late summer and fall of 1996, the officer candidate completed his basic naval training on the sail training ship "Gorch Fock" and was promoted to corporal. After a series of courses at the Bundeswehr Medical Academy in Munich and at the Mürwick Naval School as well as various troop internships, Broer was transferred to the training company for technical and vocational training in Mainz in the summer semester of 1997 and was granted leave from the Bundeswehr to take up a civilian course of study.

In Mainz, Broer began studying human medicine at the Johannes Gutenberg University. While on leave, he was promoted to sea cadet in July 1997, to midshipman in April 1998 and to midshipman in July 1999. He completed his medical internships at the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz and at various Bundeswehr medical centers.

After passing the preliminary medical examination in 1999, the student was promoted to lieutenant at sea and thus to officer in June 2000. In May 2003, he completed his studies with an overall grade of "very good". In October 2004, Thomas Broer received his license to practice medicine.

After graduating, the second lieutenant moved to various Bundeswehr medical service units, including the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz and the Bundeswehr Hospital in Ulm, for his further clinical training and as an intern.

In September 2004, Leutnant z.S. Broer was promoted to staff doctor with consistently very good to excellent ratings from his superiors. At the same time, further training courses followed in Koblenz, Munich and Fürstenfeldbruck, among others, to become a ship's doctor, in emergency and aviation medicine, in tropical medicine and as head of medical teams. At the same time, Lt. z.S. Broer pursued his dissertation and was awarded his doctorate in medicine cum laude on December 13, 2005 at the University of Mainz with his thesis "Results of bony endonasal-transpalpebral orbital decompression in endocrine orbitopathy".

After working in various departments of the German Armed Forces hospitals in Ulm and Koblenz, beginning his specialist training as a dermatologist and completing a large number of further training courses and inductions, Broer was assigned to the frigate F 209 "Rheinland-Pfalz", home port Wilhelmshaven, as a ship and squadron doctor from summer 2006 to summer 2008. During this time, he completed a three-month training course at the US Navy Environmental and Health Center in Norfolk/Virginia.

On board the "Rheinland-Pfalz" - he spent a total of 153 days at sea - Broer took part in the NATO operation "Active Endeavor" for maritime surveillance in the Mediterranean from November 2007 to January 2009. With this mission, NATO maintained a presence in the Mediterranean between 2001 and 2016 to deter terrorist activities and take action against smugglers. In addition to his work as a ship's doctor, Broer was also responsible for the recreational care and medical training of around 200 seafarers.

For his participation in this mission, Broer was awarded the NATO Medal and the German Armed Forces Bronze Medal. After his return to Germany and his promotion to colonel, which was again preceded by excellent evaluations from his superiors, who praised not only his professional achievements but also his motivation, his comradely behavior and his attitude towards service, Broer continued his training as a specialist in dermatology and allergology at the Bundeswehr Hospital in Ulm from July 2008.

From 14 July 2009 to 26 August 2009, Dr. Broer completed his second deployment abroad with the German ISAF contingent in Afghanistan. As a medical officer, he was deployed in the "Camp Marmal" field camp near Mazar-e-Sharif with the hospital company of the medical task force. In 2003, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which had a UN mandate, began operations in Afghanistan. This repeatedly led to fighting between ISAF units in conjunction with the regular Afghan army and Islamist combatants, in particular Taliban fighters, as a result of which allied soldiers had to receive medical treatment. However, the Bundeswehr's mission hospital also treated members of aid organizations, German nationals in Afghanistan as well as Afghan army personnel and civilians.

During this time, Dr. Broer primarily cared for patients with dermatological or tropical diseases, took part in the general medical on-call service and taught military police officers in the medical service. The evaluations by his superiors after his deployment abroad once again praised Dr. Broer's specialist knowledge, his calm and purposeful way of working, his comradely attitude and his impeccable discipline.

After returning from his deployment abroad, the colonel physician was again deployed to the Bundeswehr hospital in Ulm and continued his specialist training, which he wanted to complete with his specialist examination in summer 2010. However, a third deployment abroad was ordered at short notice and began on March 31, 2010. The colonel's doctor was once again sent to Camp Marmal for deployment with the mobile medical company.

In April 2010, fighting intensified in northern Afghanistan. Since March, the regular Afghan army, supported by ISAF forces in the province of Baghlan, had been trying to push back insurgent paramilitaries of the Taliban militia. The aim of the first phase of the operation was to secure bridge crossings over the Kunduz River in the Baghlan Valley. The establishment of outposts was intended to ensure permanent access for government troops and ISAF in the region. The coalition suffered losses in fierce battles that led to the recapture of central bridges and villages. For example, three German paratroopers were killed in the so-called Good Friday battle on April 2, 2010 near the village of Isa Khel.

In the second phase of the operation, the bridgeheads gained were to be expanded from April 14, 2010. On April 15, a convoy of Afghan soldiers, accompanied by Belgian and German members of a NATO Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team, drove towards the so-called Dutch Bridge over the Kunduz River in order to cross it to the west. The column of vehicles reached the bridge at around 14:30. The last vehicle, a lightly protected Mowag Eagle IV off-road vehicle, hit a booby trap. Three Bundeswehr soldiers were killed by the explosion. This was followed by firefights with the insurgents acting from ambush. Five other soldiers were injured, some of them seriously.

A second German marching column was set in motion from an outpost to provide support. It included the mobile medical unit (BAT), in which Colonel Dr. Broer was on duty. Four hours later, around 6:30 p.m., this column was fired on by Taliban with small arms and anti-tank weapons while advancing to the deployment site. A grenade penetrated the rear part of the BAT's Mowag Yak wheeled vehicle.

Colonel Dr. Thomas Broer was killed by the hit. Fifteen days before the end of his deployment, which was due to end on April 30, 2010, Broer was the 42nd member of the German Armed Forces to die in Afghanistan. At the time, Thomas Broer's partner was expecting his child, who was born in the fall of 2010.

Dr. Thomas Broer's body was transferred to Wiesbaden, where he was buried in the Dotzheim cemetery. His name was inscribed in his honor on the Bundeswehr's memorial grove at the Kunduz field camp. The memorial was dismantled in October 2013 before the camp was handed over to the Afghan army and rebuilt in November 2014 in the "Forest of Remembrance" in the Henning-von-Tresckow barracks in Schwielowsee. Dr. Broer - like other Bundeswehr soldiers who died in the line of duty - is also commemorated in the Bundeswehr memorial inaugurated in 2009 on the grounds of the Berlin headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Defence.

Dr. Thomas Broer was posthumously awarded the German Armed Forces Combat Medal. The Bundeswehr combat hospital set up at Camp Marmal in 2007, where Dr. Broer had been deployed, was named after him after his death. The camp was handed over to the Afghan army at the end of June 2021, and a few weeks later Taliban militias took control of the camp.

On the grounds of the General Lucius D. Clay Barracks of the US Army in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, a street in the "Newman Village" housing estate built in 2012 bears the name "Dr. Broer Street". In addition, "Dr. Thomas Broer Weg" was named in Wiesbaden-Dotzheim.

In total, at least 59 Bundeswehr soldiers lost their lives during their deployment as part of ISAF and the subsequent NATO mission "Resolute Support" between 2001 and 2021. The battles in spring 2010 contributed to the fact that the then Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg spoke of "war" in connection with the Bundeswehr's Afghanistan mission for the first time in early April 2010, triggering a controversial debate among the German public.