KILLEEN, Texas — Soldiers and their family members watched bulls and horses buck and cowboys wrangle at the 78th annual Killeen Rodeo for Military Appreciation Night May 15 at the Killeen Rodeo Arena.
The event began with a demonstration from Soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division’s Horse Cavalry Detachment, shooting and wielding sabers all from horseback in a series of maneuvers.
“It’s really fun to come out to these demos we do, especially like within the community, because they practice every week; every Thursday we do a demo at Fort Cavazos,” said 1st Lt. Zachary Denning, executive officer of Horse Cav. Det., 1st Cav. Div. “So coming out and being able to interact with the community and show everything that the troopers here work really hard to do is really nice.”
Following the demonstration, Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, commanding general of III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos, spoke to the crowd, thanking the rodeo for the night.
“I want to say thanks so much to Killeen Rodeo Committee for inviting us out,” he said. “It’s great to serve in a community that loves Soldiers and loves Army families.”
Then it was off to the events, with saddle bronc, calf roping, mutton bustin’, barrel racing and bull riding.
“This is the biggest year that we’ve had, as far as number of contestants, and some of the best riders we’ve seen in years,” said Brett Gordon, cochairman of the Rodeo Killeen Committee. “We have like 18 world champions competing this week here, which is pretty
significant. We’ve moved up into the large rodeo category.”
For Weston Roach, 4, this was his first rodeo. He said he had a lot of fun coming with his mother, Sarah Roach, Army spouse and veteran, and father, Sgt. 1st Class Taylor Roach, 3-393 Brigade Engineer Battalion, 120th Infantry Brigade, and friends.
Weston’s favorite part was watching the bull riding, but he would like to try his hand at mutton bustin’ next time, he said.
“If I got (a score of) 6,000, that would be good,” he said.
1st Lt. Zack Bengtson, 1st Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, and his wife Cherokee Bengtson, a nurse in pediatrics at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, also have a mutton bustin’ hopeful in their 1-year-old daughter Cody.
“I’m a big fan of mutton bustin’ even before I had kids,” Zack said. “I think mutton bustin’ is great. It’s a great way to get kids in outdoor stuff. And it’s silly, you know? It’s a lot of fun watching them hang on for dear life.”
Cherokee said events like this are great for Soldiers to meet people and explore.
“Being involved in (Zack’s) unit’s SFRG (Soldier and family readiness group), I really like these events getting advertised on Facebook, Instagram, the radio, whatever, because it’s important to get the guys that live on post out of their rooms,” she said.
Zack agreed.
“These guys that just joined the Army, they’re not making a whole lot,” he expressed. “So, being able to go to events like this (is great). Anytime we see any kind of military appreciation nights or, like the Phantom Warrior Center through the DFMWR (Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation) hands out free tickets all the time to rodeos — because of these opportunities, I’m always pushing this out to my guys and being like, ‘Hey, here’s a great opportunity to get out of your barracks and go experience Texas.’ So these are a lot of fun. These are really worth it to especially junior Soldiers.”
Gordon, also a retired lieutenant colonel, talked about the impact of the military on the city of Killeen and its growth.
“Without the military, this town wouldn’t be what it is today,” Gordon said. “It was originally just a small farming cattle town, and then they brought in Camp Hood and Fort Hood, now Fort Cavazos, and this town has blown up.
“I grew up here,” he continued. “It’s changed quite a bit. I was stationed here three separate times, and it just keeps continuing to grow, and it’s all because of the military. … As many Soldiers as we have here, we want to introduce them to the Western culture, Western lifestyle, and try to get as many of them out here to see a rodeo and see what our culture is about.”
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