Boss day adds fun to P.T.

Story and photos by Christine June
U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern

Razors anyone? Sgt. Joe Padilla, from the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern, has plenty − $1, 608.32 worth – of razors that he won Aug. 30 at the Better Opportunities for Single Servicemembers and Commissary Appreciation Day at the Vogelweh Commissary here.

“It’s all for Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines because they work hard every day, going downrange,” said Connie Tallon, the Vogelweh Commissary store manager.

For the second year, the garrison’s BOSS program and the Vogelweh Commissary have sponsored this appreciation day here. This year, more than 200 Soldiers and Airmen from six units here participated in calisthenics and seven events.

 “What a great turn out. You’ve got Army and Air Force out here. There’s a lot of cheering and running going on, and a lot of competitive juices flowing,” said Brig. Gen. Rich Johnston, KMC and 86th Airlift wing commander, who leads the largest American community outside the United States.  As the KMC commander, he provides support to close to 60,000 personnel living and working on 10 Army and five Air Force installations here.

The garrison’s BOSS President Spc.Vinnette Giscombe said this event is physical training with a twist. The sit-up event is a good example, she said. Participants, like Sgt. 1st Class Angelina Orozco, from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, had to knock out 50 sit-ups between eating cookies, bananas and pickles, and drinking juice and milk.

Then, there was the supermarket sweep or shopping spree where Sergeant Padilla had a plan to win the event for the garrison.

“I went to rack number seven for the razors because it’s not bulky and it costs a lot of money,” said Sergeant Padilla, who also said that he’s giving his co-workers a few razors.

Sergeant Padilla did indeed win the event, which helped the garrison take first place in the overall appreciation day event. The 21st TSC took home second place, and the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron on Vogelweh took home third place.

Founded in 1989, BOSS is a three-pillared organization that helps single and unaccompanied Soldiers with recreation and leisure, community service and well-being issues. The BOSS program in most Army communities stands for Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers, but because of the unique KMC demographics, the name was changed locally to servicemembers around 1997 to encourage Airmen here to take advantage of the same opportunities afforded to Soldiers.