"Grandpa, Grandpa", the little girl called out.

The old man, turned around in the park, facing his granddaughter.

He smiled. "Yes Maria."

"Can you slow down?" she asked.

"Sure" he answered.

They emerged from the park to the center of the city.

Berlin. Germany's capital.

Maria had traveled with her grandfather from Dusseldorf.

They stood in front of the Reichstag, the parliament of the Federal Republic.

The old man's optimistic smile vanished. In place a frown of remembrance.

He remembered the war, the tragedy.

He had faced the Russians here in 1945.

He was lucky to be alive, and survive the war.

Maria saw her grandfather's tension.

"What is it grandfather?"

"An old memory. The war." He explained.

The war, young Maria had been taught, eight years old and she had heard about what Germany did to Europe. And what they did to the Jews.

She felt her grandfather's pain, as the man glanced at the building. It's rebuilding state, signaled Germany's resurgence on the world's stage, but this time, they were different. The wall had come down, the Cold War was over, Germans could finally breathe.

Maria suddenly saw the clouds darken, and the wind wistle. She turned around and her grandfather vanished. She was her older self now, in full uniform, an Mp5 at her side.

Berlin was in ruins, Maria saw the building be destroyed by an unknown enemy the Reichstag crumbled. Bombs ripped the skyline. Maria dropped to her knees and cried out.

"Brunner", someone called out, "wake up". "Wake up damn it!"

Brunner sprang up, from her nightmare, her superior Maj. Paul Leitner greeted her.

"Another nightmare?" he asked

Brunner nodded. The same one every time. She was with her grandfather in Berlin, as a child. And then she was fighting in the capital in a future war. The city was in ruins, just like in 1945.

She looked around the room, the rest of the unit was still asleep in the barracks, only Leitner was awake.

"Get some sleep Lieutenant", he ordered.

"Jawohl, Herr Major", Brunner managed to say.

Maria laid back but did not sleep.

She focused on her military career. She joined the officer's training academy as soon as she finished school. Four years of intense training and education. But even after 60 years of being defeated, Germany could still turn out good officers with the proper education.

She was one of the few women in her class. The German army had given up its sexist ideology in 2001 and allowed women in combat positions. Brunner had shown her instructors her mastery of weaponry and tactics, surprising everyone. Her sheer will and drive for excellence propelled her to the top of her class.

Leutnaunt Brunner was then requested by her superiors to be assigned to KSK, the German Special Forces. Colonel Lutniz liked what he saw in Brunner, a top line officer. She was assigned to Major Leitner's team.

She had made a promise years ago. A promise to make sure German military power would help the world and not destroy it. For some reason, maybe because of that reassurance, Brunner fell asleep that night.