Rear Admiral Thorsten Marx is a graduate of the German Armed Forces University (1991), the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College (2003), the U.S. Naval War College in Newport/Rhode Island (2010), and the U.S. National War College in Washington D.C. (2018).
Rear Admiral Thorsten Marx is an Above Water Warfare Officer by trade. He served on coastal minesweepers as Operations Officer until 1995, as well as Operations Officer on board FGS BAYERN and Executive Officer on board FGS MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN. After completion of the Dutch Air Defence PWO-Course, he commanded the minesweeper FGS ENSDORF and the frigate HESSEN, as well as the Frigate Squadron 4 in Wilhelmshaven.
His posts as staff officer include a tour as desk officer Maritime Requirements in the Maritime Defence Planning Branch of Allied Command Transformation in SHAPE/Belgium, where he dealt with transformational issues such as the development of NATO Force Structure and the NATO Response Force. From 2007 to 2009 he served as desk officer and deputy branch head in the politico-military affairs NATO branch of the armed forces staff (MOD).
His staff officer assignments were rounded off with a tour as tutor and naval lecturer of the National General and Admiral Staff Officers Course at the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Hamburg) and a brief six-month assignment as deputy branch head of the section “EU Plans and Policy” at the HQ of the German Military Representative to the NATO and EU Committees in Brussels. He also served as the Head of Division for military aspects of the Security Policy and Federal Security Council at the Federal Chancellery.
Rear Admiral Thorsten Marx has been deployed as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), Operation Active Endeavour (OAE), US Central Command (CENTCOM) Coalition, EU Naval Force ATLANTA, and the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL).
His awards include the Gold and Silver Cross of Honour of the Bundeswehr as well as various campaign decorations.