U.S. Soldiers in Ukraine share Halloween with local families

Photo By Capt. Kayla Christopher | A linguist assigned to the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine paints a local Ukrainian child's face during the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team's Halloween party where American Soldiers hosted their Ukrainian counterparts' families and introduced them to Halloween themed games and trick-or-treating. (Photo by Spc. Samuel Mason, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team)  

YAVORIV, UKRAINE

10.31.2017

Story by Sgt. Anthony Jones 

45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

As the sun went down on the Yavoriv Combat Training Center on Oct. 30, things started to get spooky. Vampires, ghouls and even a bumblebee started to appear with one thing on their minds—candy.

Thankfully, the ghostly sighting making its way through the CTC’s Central City was not very frightening. The little princesses and zombies were the children of base military and civilian staff as well as children from nearby Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine whom U.S. Soldiers have been tutoring in English.

Their destination was a Halloween party hosted by Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployed with the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.

“We’ve been going into the communities here sharing our traditions,” said Capt. Kayla Christopher, an Oklahoma City resident and the officer who coordinated the Halloween party. “Most of our traditions are similar. We celebrate Easter and Christmas in similar ways, but Halloween is something unique that they may not have much experience with.”

More than 100 families came to the JMTG-U’s Halloween party, which included a fall festival in the camp’s gymnasium and trick-or-treating inside the 45th’s 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment’s battalion headquarters building.

Every company and staff section of the JMTG-U played a part in making Halloween a success, Christopher said.

“Whether they decorated their offices and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, or set up a booth for our fall festival, nearly every single Soldier on our task force contributed in some way,” Christopher said.

At the fall festival in the gym, Soldiers operated booths with games and prizes for the children. Some of the booths, like bowling and a toy gun shooting range, were easy for the kids to play.

However, others took more time and explaining, Christopher said.

“Some of our booths, like the cake walk and apple bobbing, are activities we assume everyone knows, but in actuality aren't common outside the United States,” Christopher said. “It was interesting to have to explain the rules to our linguists who had to explain the rules to the parents who then had to explain it to the kids.”

Despite the language barrier, everyone enjoyed themselves.

“Kids gravitate to games,” Christopher said. “As I was explaining to parents what to do, the kids just jumped in and started playing and at that point, the language barrier didn’t matter anymore.”

Christopher said it was exciting to see the kids dress up and interact with the Soldiers.

“The kids were so polite and it was heartwarming to see them so happy,” Christopher said. “Our Soldiers have been deployed here for a while and a lot of them miss their own children and are missing this with their families. This was a good opportunity for them to have a little sense of home.”

The 45th will return to Oklahoma later this year and another American unit will replace it at the JMTG-U, but Christopher hopes they will continue to work with their Ukrainian partners to share traditions.

“I hope whoever is here next Halloween will continue this and that our Ukrainian partners will ask them to share in other traditions to build on what we’ve started here,” Christopher said.

• Date Taken: 10.31.2017
• Date Posted: 11.02.2017 11:17
• Story ID: 253813
• Location: YAVORIV, UA
• Hometown: YAVORIV, UA
• Hometown: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, US