MANNHEIM, Germany -- Ongoing transformation does not only have an impact on the infrastructure of the host nation cities, but also affects long-lasting friendships between units of the U.S. Army and local organizations.
A group of 22 people from the prison and the German police Mannheim visited the U.S. Army Regional Correctional Facility-Europe on Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, June 3 to say farewell to a close friend. By the end of the year, the corrections facility will close and relocate to a new facility in Sembach.
"We will definitely miss the professionalism, friendship and hospitality of our law enforcement partners in the local community," said Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Plemmons, the USARCF-E sergeant major.
For more than 40 years, the prison in Mannheim and the Army's corrections facility shared a close friendship by organizing tours of the respective facilities, joint sport events and barbecues. The corrections facility's main purpose is to secure pretrial and short-term prisoners normally serving less than a year.
A partnership relation with local organization in the same professional field has always been important to the unit. "We have a unique opportunity to share occupational knowledge, build relationships and improve multinational interoperability within the parameters of the corrections profession," said Maj. Rahsaan Jackson, USARCF-E commander.
"We have always appreciated the invitations from the Americans," said Gerd Angermann, chief of pre-trial custody at the prison in Mannheim. "The military world is interesting to us, and people have always enjoyed the visits."
Angermann has functioned as liaison between the USARCF-E and the German prison since the late 1970s, when he was introduced to the Americans by a former colleague. He remembers many different occasions where German and Americans came together to share professional experience or simply to socialize.
"If you want to ask for something, you need to invest in a friendship," was Angermann's motto throughout the years. "Many years ago, the Americans even requested an official partnership certificate at the Pentagon, but it didn't work out, unfortunately," Angermann said.
With a lunch break at the dining facility and a demonstration of a forced cell move at the end of the tour, the staff of the USARCF-E made this last visit a memorable event.
"U.S. Army Corrections Activity-Europe has enjoyed an excellent partnership with the Polizei [German police], and the Feldjäger [German Military Police] for several years now, and I am very excited to be on the team as we continue to find new and innovative ways to engage with our multinational partners," Jackson said.
Moving to a new location also gives Soldiers a chance to establish new friendships and to find new partner organizations in the area to exchange professional experience.
"Sembach is a great community as well, and it will be nice to move into a new facility with state-of-the-art security systems," Plemmons said. "Our leadership understands the strategic importance of establishing and maintaining host nation partnership programs, and we will continue to aggressively pursue those opportunities once we relocate."
USACA-E leaves Coleman Barracks as the last active element of the former U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim and relocates to the area of the U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz. The organizations in Mannheim will come together one more time for the official retreat ceremony.
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