Soldiers and Families Celebrate Trunk or Treat

The Division Field Artillery Brigade held its “Trunk or Treat” event in celebration of Halloween in Fort Bliss, Texas October 30, 2023.  The event served as one of many cultural activities that the brigade plans every year.  It was a much needed segue into the holidays for soldiers after a year of missions, deployments and training that took them around the globe.

“A trunk or treat is an alternative to trick or treating where individuals bring their vehicles to a parking lot and decorate them in different themes,” said Sergeant Brahim Douglas.  “The kids come through and pick up candy from each trunk.”

Every year, the unit hosts the event for soldiers and their families to build morale after a busy year, have fun, and celebrate the spooky season. Douglas also spoke on his favorite moments after the event.

“You see people that maybe you only see at work or different sections in the unit,” said Douglas. “You get to see them come out, put their own spin, their own flavor into their decorations, and it really shows their personalities.”

More than a dozen trunks of vehicles were decorated with intricate set ups with fun themes such as Candy Land, Super Mario, Barbie and Ken, crime scenes, characters from horror movies, and more. Soldiers across the brigade came together to plan the event, bring candy, play music, and park their decorated trunks.

Staff Sergeant Micah Merrill helped facilitate trunk or treat. He said “I think coordinating for the trunk or treat one of the biggest things is you need candy and the unit really came together to donate a large amount of candy.”  Merrill continued “we had to come up with a theme, there were several individuals involved in making pieces to fit that theme. We had a pirate theme this year.”

Merrill, who also won the trunk contest, received feedback on highlights of the event and shared things the planning committee will do for future trunk or treats.

“So definitely afterward, several people came up even a day or two later and mentioned how cool they thought the activities were,” said Merrill. “What I would hope for in the future is more of an entry way into the event and then, having more of the music and things designated I feel would’ve given people a stronger sense of the event and organization.”

Douglas also said in the future he was hoping for live music, maybe even a Trunk or Treat DJ.