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    Ironhorse Fall Fest hosts activities, candy … screams

    Ironhorse Fall Fest hosts activities, candy … screams

    Photo By Staff Sgt. John Couffer | Ironhorse Soldiers and families make their way through a haunted house created and...... read more read more

    FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

    10.25.2014

    Story by Staff Sgt. John Couffer 

    1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

    FORT HOOD, Texas – Soldiers and families of the 1st Brigade Combat Team “Ironhorse,” 1st Cavalry Division, hosted and took part in Ironhorse Fall Fest, Oct. 25, at Fort Hood, Texas.

    “It’s important to show that we are not just an Army that trains, that we support and bring families together through activities like these,” said Capt. Daniel Davison, an armor officer and the Ironhorse Fall Fest Coordinator assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the Ironhorse Brigade.

    Davison said events like these build camaraderie and provide a safe and social atmosphere for the Soldiers and Families who attend.
    Six battalions of the brigade took part in the event that featured 23 different activities including face painting, tug-of-war, a trebuchet, and a haunted house.

    Soldier and families also decorated their cars with different Halloween themes – from Dia de Los Muertos to a pirate ship – for the Trunk-or-Treat portion of the fest. Children went from car-to-car getting both candy – and scares – from the displays and those in costume.

    Andrea Wenzel, the Family Readiness Group Leader for Company G, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment of the Ironhorse Brigade said events like this have a special purpose.

    “[These events] are extremely important for our families, especially when our Soldiers are away doing training,” Wenzel said. “It gives us a chance, as the leadership and FRG and the command, to put eyes on the [Soldier’s] family, know they’re OK and building camaraderie with that family.”

    She also explained that through an event like Ironhorse Fall Fest, the units get to know and understand what is going with the families, strengthening the unit-family bonds. This information is passed forward to the troops in training, letting them know their families are being supported back home, which allows them to focus on their mission.

    However, the event wouldn’t have been the success that it was without the assistance of several Soldier volunteers.

    Ironhorse Soldiers donated their time, labor and even costumes in supporting Fall Fest, said Sgt. Justine Levisee, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, explaining the importance of that homemade touch.

    From cutting and gluing pieces of a matching-card game to building displays, Levisee said that the end results cannot be bought in stores, and neither can the togetherness it brings.

    “This stuff is done by Soldiers, someone took their time to craft these events [and] make the candy bags,” Levisee said. “We all sit down, we construct, we plan and we execute as a team.”

    With over 300 people attending Ironhorse Fall Fest, “it was definitely a success,” said Davison, adding that there was another way to tell how well things went.

    “I saw kids with bags full of candy,” he said. “When I was a kid, a good measure of success was the amount of candy we got.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 10.25.2014
    Date Posted: 10.28.2014 16:23
    Story ID: 146361
    Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US

    Web Views: 84
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN