The budget sequester took the fireworks out of Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston's Fiesta celebration Sunday night, but that did nothing to dampen the event's festive spirit.
Hundreds of soldiers, families and friends converged on the post's historic Quadrangle late in the afternoon, many of them civilians wearing rows of shiny Fiesta medals.
The 323rd Army Band performed patriotic tunes as Fort Sam made the best of its most strained fiscal year in memory, and the crowd was treated to the U.S. Army Soldier Show, a troupe of 22 GIs who put on a musical called “Ready and Resilient” — a fitting theme for Fiesta 2013.
“We didn't have the carnival, we weren't going to have the fireworks, we weren't going to have a large extravaganza of food and drink, but it was all about being together,” said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commander of U.S. Army North.
The Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines will contribute to Fiesta celebrations throughout the week, despite the spending cutbacks imposed on federal activities thanks to sequestration.
Larry Benson Sr., Rey Feo LXV, mingled with a crowd that drifted toward Caldwell, Gen. Edward Rice Jr., head of the Air Force's training command, and many other troops .
“To tell you we've noticed it, not really, except for a couple of things, obviously, the fireworks and the flyovers at Randolph,” Benson, 67, of Shavano Park said.
Joint Base San Antonio, which oversees Fort Sam and two other installations here, opted to scratch the fireworks show and carnival because of overtime costs for civil service workers.