Luftwaffe Officer Playing Cards and Smoking in the Desert

This picture was first published in the 1943 book "Balkenkreuz Über Wüstensand: Falbbirderwerk des Deutschen Afrikakorps" (The Balkan Cross over Desert Sand: A Color Picture Book of the German Africa Corps) by Gerhard Stalling. It shows a Luftwaffe officer with the rank of Oberleutnant playing cards in the North African desert with cigarette in his mouth. Pretty sloppy don't you think, when we know that he is actually a medical officer (note the serpent-entwined rod in his schulterklappen!). The equivalent rank for the Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant) in the medical service is Oberarzt. Looks like he had seen action for some time, based from the Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse ribbon in his uniform. He also wears a Luftwaffe version of "knautschmütze" (crusher cap) which, basically a crushed schirmmütze (visor cap)

Source:
Book "Balkenkreuz Über Wüstensand: Falbbirderwerk des Deutschen Afrikakorps" by Gerhard Stalling
http://lescolverts.forumactif.org/t135p45-la-luftwaffe-en-couleurs