Wilhelm was once partners with Hector Shinra’s father-in-law. The two worked side by side as weapon smiths, the younger Wilhelm learning everything he knew from the elder Shinra. When Hector was brought into the company, he and Wilhelm were close in age, but the two could not be more unlike. Where Hector was business minded and jovial, Wilhelm was serious and battle scarred. He had seen his fair share of action before coming to work for Shinra Weapon Enterprises, Wilhelm was a soldier in the Junon Navy. As a young man, he enlisted to help keep the family afloat and enjoyed it so much, he stayed on passed his enlisted time. That is until the behemoth took his right eye and forced him into early retirement. He sought out employment from an old friend.

When Hector started the Shinra Electric Power Company, he knew he was likely going to need to invest in some sort of security to keep his investments safe. There were some people in the world who didn’t take to the idea of Mako reactors and some of the early plants were damaged by angry locals trying to desperately cling to their coal. An army was just what he needed to guard the reactors.. And so he turned to Wilhelm to help organize it.

Today, Heidegger sits as the head of Public Safety, aka the military. He controls the infantry, air and water support as well as the Junon Navy which preceded him. There is however, one area that he does not control and that is the office of the Turks which is under Veld. This aggravates him to no end as he feels that they do what they please and operate outside the lines of strict, military guidelines. If he had his way, they would be disbanded on the spot and replaced with Soldier.