Mount up!

Polo players, like soldiers, aren’t the sort to let a little rain get in the way of duty.

And so it was that the civilians who made up the Army Black and Army Gold teams at Saturday’s Polo Pa‘ina at Fort Shafter played on as a late afternoon shower turned the newly manicured lawn at Palm Circle treacherously slick.

"It was very slippery," said Chris Dawson, who along with fellow player Allen Hoe helped to organize the event. "The horses were slipping a little. But it all worked out. A safe match is a good one and this was a fantastic event overall."

Saturday was the second time the U.S. Army Pacific has hosted a polo match on the historic field.

Last October, commanding general Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski invited local players to compete at Palm Circle as a way of reaching out to the local community and honoring the Army’s equestrian roots. The event was so successful that the general invited the players back to compete in a public match that would cap a week of festivities marking the Army’s 237th birthday.

"Hawaii is a place that recognizes and honors its history and this is a way for us to acknowledge that the Army has a culture and a history of its own and to share that with the community," Wiercinski said. "We are a part of this community and it’s important that we give back."

Dawson, the United States Polo Association Hawaii Circuit governor, has actively encouraged polo communities to seek out alliances with military installations.

"Polo’s roots are in the Army," Dawson said. "After a decade of war, I think it’s really appropriate that polo communities reach out and show our thanks to the military."

While last year’s event emphasized the Army’s historic connections to horsemanship and its early ties to the sport of polo (even in Hawaii, where George Patton once led an Army team in a heated match against a team of local players led by Walter Dillingham), Saturday’s exhibition had a distinctly forward-looking vibe.

"A lot of our soldiers are recently returned from deployment and now it’s time to reset and get back to training," Wiercinski said. "This event is meant to remind us who we are and where we come from so that we can rejuvenate ourselves and get back to work."

Tony Costales, 21, of Kalihi, and Michele Higa, 21, of Kaimuki, were suitably impressed as they watched their very first polo match from the sidelines.

"It’s pretty intense," said Costales, whose mother was one of several local pa‘u riders who greeted the crowd before the match got under way. "I’ve seen bits and pieces on TV before, but seeing it in person — it’s pretty nuts."

Costales and Higa were two of more than 1,000 people who gathered along the periphery of the field to watch the match. The event also included food, games and military exhibits.

Five-year-old Malae Tia was less interested in the match than in the military hardware on display, leading her father, Command Sgt. Maj. Toese Tia, by the hand as she checked out a pair of M-1151 high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles and posed first behind an MK19 40mm grenade machine gun, then an M2 .50-caliber machine gun.

Tia said he was moved by the confluence of past and present, military and civilian, that the day represented.

"When I stand out here, I think about all of the soldiers past and present — this state has such a population of veterans dating back all the way to World War II — and how this reflects back on who we are," Tia said. "Times may change and equipment may change, but our values never do. They’ve become embedded in us as an Army and as a nation."

A goal by Army Gold in the final seconds ended the match in a 6-6 tie, prompting Wiercinski to ask jokingly if the fix was in.

"No," answered Dawson, laughing. "Today everybody wins."