FORT BLISS, Texas -- "Three, two, one, go!" yelled a voice into the megaphone. Next, over 100 Army children sprinted through Kelly Park here, gathering colored eggs, while searching for the elusive golden eggs, which promised a much larger prize.
The 5th Armored Brigade held its annual Easter celebration April 5, allowing Soldiers and Family members a chance to come together on a weekend and celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday.
"This is one of the three big events we do yearly that allows for all the families to come together," said Col. Raul Gonzalez, brigade commander. "Each battalion chips in and works on their portion of the event, so you get to work on the cooperation and teamwork of the unit while our Families have a great time."
The event, which had participants from all seven battalions in the brigade, included events like an egg and spoon race, an egg toss, bunny hop races, an egg walking event, and a scavenger hunt to finish the day.
"The families were able to socialize together and see each other outside of just work," said Lt. Col. Patrick Hogeboom, commander of the 1st Battalion, 361st Engineer Regiment, Task Force Redhawk, 5th Armored Brigade. "I wanted our Family members and Soldiers to get a feeling of community and know that although we live all over town, we can come together and have a great time."
The scavenger hunt was broken into three age groups, where each group had a designated area in the park to find eggs. A certain number of golden eggs were scattered among the colorful eggs, which would earn the lucky child that found it a large gift basket of candy.
"I wanted my daughter to be able to come out and be able to get to know some of the other kids in the battalion and brigade," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Robinson, an observer-coach/trainer with the 1st Battalion, 361st Engineer Regiment, Task Force Redhawk, 5th Armored Brigade. "The atmosphere was great, the weather was amazing, and everybody was able to participate in some way."
By early afternoon, the bouncy house was deflated, Easter baskets were full of opened eggs, and the kids begrudgingly made their way to the car with bellies full of chocolate, thinking of how they can't wait for next year's Easter event to come once more.
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