Major General Wilhelm (Bill) Grün was commissioned into the Armoured Infantry of the German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in 1978.
He graduated from the Federal Armed Forces University, Hamburg, in 1983 and earned a Master’s degree in Economics. After this, he returned to Armoured Infantry Battalion 342 as Platoon Leader, S-2 Officer and finally Company Commander.
In 1992 he graduated from the Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg and was fortunate to subsequently be assigned to his first NATO posting as DACOS G2, NATO Headquarters LANDJUT, Rendsburg followed by the International Training Course on Security Policy in Geneva.
Staff appointments in the Ministry of Defence included Deputy Branch Chief Politico-Military Affairs and Bilateral Relations Joint Staff, Military Assistant (Army) to the Chief of the Defence Staff; Branch Chief, Plans and Policy, Army Staff.
1997-1999 he was appointed Commander, Armoured Infantry Battalion 192, and 2007-2010 Commander of the prestigious Armour Brigade 9.
This was followed by three NATO posts as General Officer: Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon as Head of Joint Plans Branch and Director Operations; Allied Land Command Izmir as Deputy Chief of Staff Operations; promoted Major General Commander Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz.
From 2019 he was Deputy Chief of Staff Operations and Chief of Staff of the DEU Joint Support and Enabling Service Headquarters, Bonn.
Major General Grün is married to Dr. Ipek Grün; he has three children. A sailing enthusiast in his spare time, he is also a highly accomplished sports diver.
Major General Grün was appointed the position as Deputy Chief of Staff Support, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, in September 2022.