On Wednesday, March 10, Reliant Park in Houston, TX, hosted a “Salute to the Troops” day. Over 1,500 troops from Fort Hood were invited guests to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I was lucky enough to be among them. I took many videos and photos of the day’s events, which began at 0730 at Hood Stadium on main Fort Hood. Responsible for over 100 Soldiers from my unit, we formed up and took accountability before joining the rest of the units and loading up into 28 tour buses destined for Houston. We had the best driver – NOT! He only got lost three times before we even made it out of Belton!
We got to the rodeo about 30 minutes late. The 1st Cavalry Division’s ceremonial horse detachment was supposed to open the day’s activities at 1500, but since we were late, they delayed the start to allow us time to watch the show. They did an awesome job, as you can see in this video.
1st Cavalry Division Horse Detachment from You Served Radio & Blog on Vimeo.
After the show, all the troops were treated to a free lunch (or dinner as we call it in Texas) of delicious BBQ. We got to mingle with troops from other services and it was at this point I became acutely embarrassed for the Army.
The uniform for the event was the Army Combat Uniform – basically our camouflage uniform. Meanwhile, the Marines were in their B and C uniforms, looking spiffy. The Navy, likewise, was wearing their Navy Service Uniform and Air Force was wearing their blue uniforms as well. The Army was the only service sporting camouflage and that just doesn’t sit right with me. The city of Houston wanted to honor our troops and show off how proud they are of us. And yet, none of them knew our accomplishments because we were wearing a utility uniform. The Marines looked spiffy with all their ribbons and I observed on more than one occasion where someone would walk right past a bunch of Soldiers to have their picture taken with someone from another service because they had on a nice uniform.
I’ll have more about the rodeo, as well as some more video, up later.
Ok, I gotta say, that has got to be one of the coolest Army jobs ever.
Fun video, but wasn’t Gary Owens played for the 7th Cavv? I think it sucks about the uniform, too. But we know who you are and what you have contributed. Thanks to all of you.
My Pony riders, great job as always. WOW that many military treated AWESOME. Salute to Houston. Thanks for sharing this.
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