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*Old article about Danish Jaeger

The hunting corps is affected by internal strife, redundancies and manpower shortages​

Of
Peter Ernstved Rasmussen
-
November 21, 2017
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It was the reality show "Korpset" with the hunter-gatherer Thomas Rathsack and three of his former colleagues as instructors, which this summer got the Jægerkorpset's management to "exclude" five former hunter-gatherers and turn their portraits on the wall of honor in Jægerkorpset. Photo: Screendumo from TV2

Five named hunter-gatherers have been unofficially thrown out of the corps for violating the internal code. The case has split the corps, which is divided into two. At the same time, the Hunter Corps is fighting with declining admissions, unforeseen dismissals and vacancies.​

They are hailed as some of Denmark's most talented soldiers and live a life in a secret world far from the curiosity of the outside world. They have been deployed in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and are often at the top of politicians' toolbox when Denmark raises its hand and offers aid to NATO or the United States. But behind the facade of Jægerkorpset at Flyvestation Aalborg, there is currently a battle going on, which does not involve binocular sights or night vision goggles .

It's about culture. Or - some would say - lack of the same. In fact, the current battle began many years ago and has perhaps more or less always been the Jægerkorpset's faithful companion for better or worse. Because behind all the confidentiality and the secret missions are people who, after their time in the Hunter Corps, have had a desire to tell the outside world about the otherwise so hermetically closed world.

Back in the 1980s, it was the hunter-gatherer Carsten Mørch who, with the book "Such", emerged as an author by telling about his own and BS Christiansen's stay on the American Ranger course in 1978, where Carsten Mørch became number one. Since then, BS Christiansen followed with the book "BS - A life on the edge" and a new life as a popular TV host on various entertainment programs and as a consultant for i.a. Bjarne Riis' cycling team.

Thomas Rathsack was the direct cause of the Armed Forces' biggest scandal​

In 2009, it was the hunter-gatherer Thomas Rathsack who, with the book "Hunter - at war with the elite", was the direct cause of the biggest scandal that has ever hit the Armed Forces. The book revealed national secrets, the Armed Forces believed, as with former communications chief H.-C. Mathiesen at the helm tried to get a bailiff ban imposed. But by then the book had already been translated into Arabic - by the Armed Forces itself.

The scandal caused greater damage to the Armed Forces than any explosion or leak from the Jægerkorps ever comes close to, and in addition to costing both the then Chief of Defense and the Minister of Defense the posts, the book's sales figures and public curiosity for the corps exploded with the many secrets.
The article continues below the video…

Now it's crazy again. Not only has Thomas Rathsack continued as a fiction writer with fictional stories about a hunter-gatherer in secret service - now he has also made a TV program for TV2 entitled "The Corps", which was broadcast in February, and which continues with a new season in 2018. Here, three other former fighter soldiers help and act as instructors in a reality world where 30 aspiring young men are tested through a week and subjected to hardships reminiscent of those that a fighter soldier must go through.

The real hunting corps has been following developments with growing concern and frustration, and this summer it was decided to exclude five named hunting soldiers from the hunting corps for violating the corps' internal code. Or that is, to exclude hunter-gatherers from the Hunter Corps, one can not do so officially at least. Instead, the soldiers have been thrown out of the corps and banned by turning their portraits on the "wall of honor" in the Hunter Corps, where pictures of all the hunter soldiers through the ages hang in a long corridor.

Why one but not the other?​

In addition to Thomas Rathsack, these are Erik B. Jørgensen, Magnus Hansson and Rune Krogh Danielsen, who all three were co-directors in the reality show on TV2. The last one is Lars Møller. In 2013, he wrote the book "Jæger 200", which the Armed Forces approved before publication. But according to OLFI's information, some in the Jægerkorpset have seen themselves angry at Lars Møller, because in the book he mentions cooperation difficulties with two anonymised persons, who all internally in the corps, however, know who is.
Jaeger200


In 2013, the hunter-gatherer Lars Møller published the book “Jæger 200”, which was approved by the Armed Forces, but which has now nevertheless cost him an exclusion from the Jægerkorpset. Photo: Gyldendal

The decision to exclude the five fighter jets has made the debate in the Fighter Corps about much more than IS and Al Qaeda. Because why can BS Christiansen make TV reality with Bubber and Signe Svendsen, when Thomas Rathsack and his four brothers-in-arms can not? And why can you exclude Lars Møller when the Armed Forces has approved the manuscript itself?
Why are Nicolai Moltke-Leth and the former head of the Jægerkorpset, Poul Dahl, allowed to write books when Lars Møller is not allowed? And why can hunter-gatherers who, after their service, have committed crimes continue to hang on the wall of honor when law-abiding hunters who, in their own opinion, only help the corps with positive attention, are excluded - as a hunter wonders.

A former hunter with many years of experience in the corps mourns the development and calls the current rift "childish" and a "loser case". He predicts that one will have to flip the five pictures again, because otherwise other stories of former hunters will keep popping up, followed by questions about why this and that should not be excluded.
"It hurts me to watch, because I like the Hunter Corps a lot," he says.

The hunting corps has never been stronger, but…​

One must be careful not to talk about a crisis in the Hunter Corps, because in many ways the corps has never been stronger. It has currently been deployed to Iraq and Syria and has for the past 15 years been almost chronically deployed in sharp missions. Yet the current controversy reveals something about the culture of the corps whose reputation in public - consciously or unconsciously - has always been marked by some marked macho types.

However, it is beyond any doubt that the corps is understaffed and has been hit by unforeseen layoffs. At the moment, 14 positions are vacant, and out of this year's about 50 applicants, only three made it through the eye of the needle and thus got the right to wear the Hunter Corps' burgundy beret with the hunter horn in their forehead. But there is a long way to go to the number that the Armed Forces' leadership and the politicians at Christiansborg demand, and i.a. therefore, the newly established special operations command has decided to merge the recording for the Hunters Corps and the Frømand Corps.

It is a decision that in turn splits the entire specialist surgery environment. And it's a story that you can read more about at OLFI during the week.
This article is based on conversations with a number of current as well as former fighter soldiers. OLFI has also spoken with Major General Jørgen Høll, who is head of the Special Operations Command, but he refers to the Hunter Corps about internal matters. However, the hunting corps did not want to answer questions about the case.

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The book can be found in many different languages.

 

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