POZNAN, Poland – Some say you haven’t officially moved into your new home until you’ve thrown your first party.
Well, U.S. Army Garrison Poland just threw eleven Super Bowl parties for more than a thousand service members last week. No small feat for a Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation team that currently numbers a dozen.
“Each Forward Operating Station (FOS) had their own version of a Super Bowl party,” said Becca Yarling, the garrison recreation specialist who oversaw the garrison’s gridiron bashes. “ Some were smaller supported by the American Red Cross and the USO, while others had full build ups with pregame festivities.”
That meant video game tournaments of Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL series, Super Bowl trivia contests, and enough caffeine, sugar and pizza to keep the legions of football fans up through the O-dark-thirty start time.
“If people eat pizza like me, we probably went through 4,000 slices,” laughed Yarling.
For some lucky Soldiers stationed at the Drawsko Combat Training Center, located three hours north of Poznan, festivities included being joined by the 11 members of the Washington Commander’s Dance Team – the Command Force – for their viewing party.
“This tour really brought to me a new perspective of what our service members go through,” said Kayla McMahon, a Washington Commanders dancer her first tour overseas. “They would really light up when we would ask them about their families and hometowns – or even food they missed like Chick-fil-a or Dunkin Donuts.”
McMahon and her team traveled 982 miles to nine different locations in 11 days. With full dance shows at each stop. A road trip that would make manyof the battle-hardened Soldiers they were performing for blush.
Whether it was the Soldiers borrowing the dancer’s pom-poms and cheering when either the San Francisco 49ers or Kansas City Chiefs scored (and for a select few, whenever Taylor Swift appeared on screen). She said the troops really knew how to have a good time.
“These people love to dance – it’s hilarious to see them let loose, do back flips, front flips and even moonwalk,” said McMahon.
Yarling said there was a rhyme and reason to the garrison good times. The parties had a point.
“I often joke ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy,’ but recreation activities increase quality of life, resiliency in stress and better health," she said. “Each of these factors directly impacts a service member’s ability to focus on the fight.”
But she added, it’s not too bad to be a part of history either.
“Each milestone USAG Poland MWR passes feels pretty monumental,” said Yarling. “I’m proud to be a part of building the foundation for a new garrison and can’t wait to see the progress we make as the years go by. First Super Bowl, first Olympics, first anything, it’s the first and that’s something to take pride in.”
Super Bowl Party times 11… check. Consider the ‘Army’s Home on the Eastern Flank’ properly moved into.
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