JOINT MULTINATIONAL READINESS CENTER, Germany – A candidate for Eagle Scout recently made improvements to a dog park in a U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria – Hohenfels neighborhood as part of her community service project.
Katie Oberman assembled and installed several dog agility obstacles in what had been an empty park in the Camp Linderberg neighborhood of the garrison cantonment.
“There wasn’t a lot of stuff here,” said Oberman. “I felt like it should be a bit more fun for the dogs.”
There are two sets of poles through which owners can train their dog to weave through, an A-frame obstacle, an elevated walk, and a series of hurdles at different heights.
The project took more than 200 service hours. The set-up of the equipment took a lot of planning, coordination and two 2.5-hour sessions for the setup. Most of the work was organizational with the scouts procuring the equipment through donation.
Katie and her Family came out for the official turnover of the park to the garrison. They brought the Family dog, Flash, to the event. Katie has two siblings, who are also scouts. As part of the official turnover, Patrick Rothbauer, the deputy garrison manager at USAG Bavaria – Hohenfels, was on hand to see the results of the service project.
“I think it will actually add to the community’s pride in the dog park and help make it a better place for the dogs and their humans at Hohenfels,” Rothbauer said of the Eagle Scout candidate’s work.
As a military child, Katie’s life has progressed through a series of duty stations. Her father, Sgt. 1st Class Jared Oberman, has had a military career that has taken his Family to Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona, South Carolina and, of course, Germany. She has lived at Hohenfels for almost five years, the longest of any other home.
“Almost all of my middle school and the entirety of my high school career has been here,” she said. “So I really felt like I should leave something.”
Sgt. 1st Class Oberman is proud of Katie and all his children.
“Very proud,” he said. “It’s a good thing to see them going through that effort, going through the steps and learning all the great things you can learn as you go through the process. It [scouting] is not just about learning to be physically fit or learning how to camp. It’s so many different things, and one of them is showing how to be a leader.”
“I’m very proud of Katie for stepping up to do this,” said Rothbauer. “Not only for her project but for the community. It’s a great community service project, and it gives us something we otherwise wouldn’t have.”
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