Partnership without Borders

Photo By Staff Sgt. Frank Brown | KEMNATH, Germany - Pvt. First Class Evan Tortirgi and Military Working Dog Beri demonstrate MWD capabilities during a Military Police display. The demonstration was part of a celebration of community partnership between the 709th Military Police Battalion and the City of Kemnath.  

KEMNATH, BY, GERMANY

10.20.2018

Courtesy Story

18th Military Police Brigade

By 2nd Lt. Casey McNicholas
709th Military Police Battalion

KEMNATH, Germany- As the sun set across the Eastern Bavarian landscape, friends from 4 different nations came together to celebrate a partnership that has grown in time. The “Warriors” of the 709th Military Police Battalion joined officials from the City of Kemnath to commemorate eight years of working together as a community.

In October of 2010, United States Army Garrison – Bavaria, requested the City of Kemnath to partner with a battalion located within the Garrison. The City chose to partner with, at the time, one of the two Military Police Battalions stationed in Europe. With the signing of a decree and a couple rounds of local brew, the partnership was born.

Kemnath, a town of 5,500 people, is located near the Army Garrison at Grafenwoehr. “The partnership is interrupted by constant change…but each commander makes our friendship a high priority, for which I am very grateful,” Said Burgermeister Werner Nickl, Kemnath’s mayor.

Since the partnership began, the battalion saw its share of change the 709th deployed to Afghanistan, and soon after became Europe’s only Military Police battalion. The “Warriors” now support theater-level exercises in support of Atlantic Resolve as well as conduct garrison Law Enforcement operations throughout Europe. During the celebration, Lieutenant Colonel John W. Copeland, the 709 Military Police Battalion’s commander, told the citizens of Kemnath “Much change has occurred the past 8 years, but one aspect has remained constant…that is our partnership with the City of Kemnath.”

This anniversary coincided with the 10-year anniversary of partnership with Kemnath’s sister cities of Nepomuk, Czech Republic and Zagorje ob Savi, Slovenia. Representatives from these cities helped the battalion and Kemnath celebrate through selections from a choir, a fire brigade display, a display of Military Police vehicles along with a demonstration by the battalion’s Military Working Dogs and their handlers.

Lt. Col. Copeland expressed his sincere appreciation to all those in attendance by thanking them for their support and more importantly for being a part of the Warrior Family.

• Date Taken: 10.20.2018
• Date Posted: 10.28.2018 11:34
• Story ID: 297976
• Location: KEMNATH, BY, DE