Award: Back side upwards

[Sesam]

Hello All,
i´m a little bit confused about the awards on this picture.
In my opinion the there are 3 awards (but I´m not sure):
- Wounded Award in Black (1918)
- Iron Cross 2nd Class (1914)
- Cross of Honor for Combatants
The man in the picture is wearing the Iron Cross with the reverse side facing upwards. I cannot imagine that this was an accident. What did the man want to express with it?
Appreciate your help advising the rank, unit or whatever you might find.

Thanks you in advance
Sesam

[OpanaPointer]

Looks like Ricky Recruit messed up.

[von thoma]

Appreciate your help advising the rank, unit or whatever you might find

He looks like a ' very young ' veteran, enlisted man, a dark piping waffenfarbe can be distinguished
on visor cap, litzen and shoulder straps, perhaps black for Pioneers, in that case ' Pionier ' rank title,
if not had Gefreiter, or Obergefreiter chevrons on his left arm.
A number of ' Bataillon ' is visible on the shoulder strap too ( 53, or 58 ).

[Sesam]

Thank you von Thoma very much for your useful advice. This could help me get a bit further. I will dig into the history of the pioneer battalions and try to find out more about the person in the picture. I suspect that it could have been a distant relative whose entire family worked as wheelwrights.
Did they pay attention to the training of the future soldier when assigning him to a military unit at that time?