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One of the largest events of Fort Leonard Wood’s Month of the Military Child celebration, MOMC-palooza, took place April 20 at Gerlach Field, giving families here a chance to relax, have fun and celebrate the resiliency of military children.
Helping kick off the event was U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leonard Wood Command Sgt. Maj. Danny Castleberry, who thanked the organizers of MOMC-palooza, along with “everybody for coming out here.”
“It’s amazing how the community supports Fort Leonard Wood,” Castleberry said. “We always owe you for what you guys do for us. So, thank you very much, and without further ado, have a great day.”
The event, hosted at Gerlach Field for the second year in a row by the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, also included an Earth Day celebration this year, with assistance from the Directorate of Public Works. In total, more than 70 Fort Leonard Wood organizations helped make MOMC-palooza possible, “letting the kids come to one place and experience everything we can throw at them in one day,” said Tamara Smith, FMWR’s Child and Youth Services coordinator and one of the MOMC-palooza organizers.
“We have so many partners here today,” Smith said. “Month of the Military Child is a huge endeavor, and it’s an opportunity for everybody to really just focus on youth, focus on our little ones. They’re the youngest part of our military families, but they don’t get a choice. They go where they’re told, and they do what they have to do. They are resilient; they are strong; and they are remarkable, but we don’t get that opportunity all the time to remind them of how remarkable they are.”
In addition to face painting, balloon artists, bounce houses and axe throwing, Smith spoke about some of the food trucks at the event.
“There’s a donut truck, and you can watch them make the donuts,” Smith said. “I’m a donut person, so that’s my favorite, but there’s also lemonade, and some of our units are out here making breakfast burritos, hot dogs, hamburgers — you name it.”
Smith said Soldiers were on hand to help children attempt some of the Army Combat Fitness Test events, and military weapons were displayed to help highlight weapons safety. Fort Leonard Wood units also brought robots the children could attempt to operate, and military vehicles as static displays, giving children the opportunity to touch and sit in some of the equipment their parents may use — and Defense Commissary Agency representatives organized a race car simulator.
“If you didn’t come, you missed out on a great opportunity,” Smith said.
Fort Leonard Wood Energy Manager Will Wibberg, one of a handful of DPW employees on hand, showcased some examples of what he called clean energy, including a solar-powered phone charger. He called MOMC-palooza a great avenue to advocate environmental stewardship “to the next generation.”
“Earth Day is all of our responsibilities to remember our stewardship of the planet,” Wibberg said. “It’s all of our responsibilities to take care of Earth and to do every little bit we can — and that’s embracing clean energy, doing our part to keep our lights off, making sure we’re not leaving things running, no leaks, making sure that we’re recycling what we can and keeping our wastes, our plastics, out of places where they can hurt people. With MOMC-palooza, this is a great avenue to advocate that to kids. This is just a fantastic opportunity to bring our stewardship to the next generation.”
Making their way around to the various activities were Lt. Col. Michael Kaiser, 31st Engineer Battalion commander, and his 12-year-old daughter, Olivia. Kaiser called MOMC-palooza “phenomenal for the installation.”
“We’ve moved six times throughout my career,” he said. “So far, she’s been in five different schools. So, the fact that we’re supporting military children is important because they serve just as equally as we do. This is incredibly important.”
“It’s a really cool event,” Olivia added, after performing a door breach with the help of an NCO from Fort Leonard Wood’s Combat Engineer Skills Division. “I was looking forward to seeing all the creativity here.”
More photos from MOMC-palooza are available to view and download on the Fort Leonard Wood Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortleonardwood/albums/72177720316381795 and the FMWR Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/flw-mwr/albums/72177720316397231.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2024 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 469359 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MOMC-palooza provides Fort Leonard Wood family fun, by Brian Hill, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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