JMRC critter teams, USAG Bavaria connect with communities in Schmidmühlen

Photo By Bryan Gatchell | JOINT MULTINATIONAL READINESS CENTER, Germany -- Members of the U.S. Army and community leaders surrounding the Joint Multinational Readiness Center gather for a group photograph. The city of Markt Schmidmühlen recently hosted U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center members and partner communities leaders during the annual Community Connector event. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)  

SCHMIDMUEHLEN, BY, GERMANY

10.17.2023

Story by Bryan Gatchell 

U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria

JOINT MULTINATIONAL READINESS CENTER, Germany – The city of Markt Schmidmühlen recently hosted U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center members and partner communities leaders during the annual Community Connector event.

JMRC's observer coach trainer teams, colloquially "the critter teams" because of their animal nicknames, partner with the cities surrounding the training area; during the connector event the team leaders sat down with many of the mayors to discuss issues.

Aside from the event being an opportunity for food and good fellowship, JMRC and the garrison informed the host nation communities of forthcoming training, ongoing projects and more.

Patrick Rothbauer, Hohenfels deputy garrison manager, explained the informative nature of the event to the gathered leadership. He also explained that beyond sharing information, the members could bring up issues that the other parties may not be aware of.

"Partnerships are important, but even with great partnerships, problems, misunderstandings or other incidents come up," he said. "We can only fix those issues if we know about them."

Presenters with JMRC discussed training set to take place during the fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024). Presenters with the garrison briefed airfield operations, construction, housing issues, local national employment and upcoming events.

Col. Justin Y. Reese, commander of the operations group for JMRC, spoke at the event, thanking the participants not only for their role in the day's event but in their continued partnership.

"You all contribute to ensure that supporting our warfighters remains a collective and meaningful endeavor," he said. "I appreciate the opportunity to spend the day with you to develop shared understanding amongst our command and our communities. Thank you for your discussion, your dialogue and your commitment to your communities. We're all better for it."

Reese also took the opportunity to thank Dr. Markus Perpeet, the federal forestry service director at Hohenfels. Perpeet, in addition to briefing meaningful historical background about one of the villages, provided venison hunted in the training area as lunch. This year's event marked the last time Perpeet would take part in the event as he is soon to retire from his position after 22 years at Hohenfels.

Reese and JMRC Command Sgt. Maj. Alexander Yazzie presented Perpeet with the U.S. colors encased in a triangular wood-and-glass display.

Perpeet also spoke about a former village within the training area called Enslwang, which a sinkhole had largely swallowed portions of. Perpeet and his team had found two tiles from the former village more than a decade ago, and he presented the tiles to the Schmidmühlen mayor, Peter Braun, so the town could use it in their museum. He also presented a large piece of wood found in Enslwang jointly to JMRC and USAG Bavaria in recognition of the decades of partnership between the U.S. Army and the German forestry service.

The mayors and the critter teams stood on the venue's lawn and took their photo together before eating lunch together.

• Date Taken: 10.17.2023
• Date Posted: 10.17.2023 09:28
• Story ID: 455943
• Location: SCHMIDMUEHLEN, BY, DE
• Hometown: BERATZHAUSEN, BY, DE
• Hometown: HOHENBURG, BY, DE
• Hometown: HOHENFELS, BY, DE
• Hometown: KASTL, BY, DE
• Hometown: LUPBURG, BY, DE
• Hometown: NEUMARKT IN DER OBERPFALZ, BY, DE
• Hometown: PARSBERG, BY, DE
• Hometown: REGENSBURG, BY, DE
• Hometown: SEUBERSDORF IN DER OBERPFALZ, BY, DE