Photo By Winifred Brown | Airman 1st Class Chris Greene, left, Presidio of Monterey Better Opportunities for...... read more read more
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (Nov. 26, 2021) – The Presidio of Monterey Better Opportunities for Single Service members program hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for 445 service members at the Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Hobson Recreation Center here Nov. 25.
“It’s a great opportunity to have a Thanksgiving dinner so they can still feel like they’re with some family—the military,” said Marine Corps Pfc. Thomas Mash, BOSS secretary.
Most of the service members at PoM are students at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, and Mash said the event was important because many of them may not have seen their families in a while and decided to stay on post for Thanksgiving to save their leave for the upcoming holiday break.
The BOSS program, at Army installations throughout the world, is built on the pillars of quality of life, community service, and recreation and leisure. At most installations the Army calls the organization “Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers,” but at PoM the name includes “service members” because personnel from all four military branches attend DLIFLC and are the program’s core members.
Hugo Ambriz Tena, BOSS advisor and recreation specialist for PoM Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, said the event took about four months to plan and the work of nearly 60 volunteers.
BOSS has hosted the event annually since 2019, Tena said, and he thanks the sponsors who paid for the catered food. The meal included turkey, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and much more. Service members did not have to be BOSS members to attend.
Navy Seaman Joel Anderson, BOSS president, said BOSS members wanted to organize the dinner to help build a sense of community at PoM during the holiday season.
“It’s really important to have service members on base that you can connect with, and I think that that connection is the biggest thing that these events bring, especially over the holidays,” Anderson said.
In keeping with the occasion, service members said they were thankful for the dinner.
Marine Corps Pvt. Jack Sears, assigned to the Marine Corps Detachment, said he decided to stay at PoM for Thanksgiving because he is saving his leave for the upcoming holiday block leave, and he appreciated the dinner for the good food.
“I’m glad they’re doing an event like this,” Sears said. “It got me out of my room, if I’m being honest, because a poor private like me can’t really afford to be flying home a lot. I’m saving up for Christmas.”
Likewise, Marine Corps Pfc. John Kershaw, also assigned to the MCD, said nearly everyone in the MCD decided to stay at PoM for Thanksgiving, so the dinner was a great opportunity for them to get out of the barracks and enjoy good food and company.
In addition, BOSS members said they are thankful for the Hobson Recreation Center and their ability to host the dinner there. Hobson, the building’s namesake, was a graduate of DLIFLC and one of eight Americans killed in a terrorist explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya on Aug. 7, 1998. The Army named the building after him Aug. 5, 1999.
The center serves as BOSS headquarters and offers a variety of recreational activities, and Airman 1st Class Chris Greene, BOSS vice president, said he appreciates it because it gives him and other service members a chance to leave the barracks, socialize and get to know service members from other branches of the military.
“Being able to come here and see other people socializing, having access to those amenities, pool, video games, music, sitting outside by a fire when it’s a little chilly [is great],” Greene said. “That’s just a wonderful thing, seeing other faces. It’s too easy to sit in and just sit by yourself.”
Mash said there’s no way to replace home for service members, but the center helps them feel more at home.
Also, Anderson said the center’s staff members are caring and extremely helpful.
“They work really hard for us and are always very, very engaged and care very much about all the service members,” Anderson said. “Thank you to all the staff here that works really, really hard.”
To learn more about the BOSS program at PoM, visit https://presidio.armymwr.com/programs/boss. To learn more about the Hobson Recreation Center, visit https://presidio.armymwr.com/programs/hobson-recreation-center.
| Date Taken: | 11.26.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.26.2021 08:56 |
| Story ID: | 410056 |
| Location: | CA, US |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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