Guard cooks compete for annual food service title

A member of Nebraska's 267th Support Maintenance Company decorates a chocolate cake with an ear of corn during the 42nd annual Phillip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Army Food Service held at the Greenlief Training Site in Nebraska Oct. 17. Food service units from six states recently showcased their culinary abilities before a national judging panel, while competing for the title. (Photo courtesy of Nebraska National Guard)

By Mark Roland
Nebraska National Guard

GREENLIEF TRAINING SITE, Neb., (10/22/09) -- Call it the military’s version of the "Iron Chef."

Competing on a grassy plain in central Nebraska while the sounds of Soldiers conducting marksmanship training echoed in the distance, food service units from six states recently showcased their culinary abilities before a national judging panel, while competing for the 42nd annual Phillip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Army Food Service here Oct. 17.

Working together under the ever-watchful eyes of the national inspectors, cooks from Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island and West Virginia prepared a meal for 50 Soldiers in a field environment using their unit's Mobile Kitchen Trailer, essentially a kitchen on wheels.

Along with being evaluated on their cooking abilities, the Soldiers also were graded on 10 separate areas ranging from cooking and sanitation procedures to their adherence to Army administrative, safety and supply regulations.

Simply getting to this point meant that the section, which represented a particular region in the Army National Guard’s National Field Kitchen Category, had to conduct hours of training and practice on the unit's mobile kitchen trailer to develop the level of expertise needed to be competitive.

"At first it was to get some experience for my cooks on a (mobile kitchen trailer), some field training," said Sgt. Katherine Smith, first cook for Nebraska’s 267th Support Maintenance Company. "When they go to (advanced individual training) the MKT is already popped open. They just show them what it looks like. When they actually get to cook on it, it was good experience for them."

"It just grew from there," Smith said. "When I learned that it was the first time Nebraska competed in five years, it became really important to do our best."

The work must have paid off, because the cooks had already won the state and regional competition. Still, this was the national competition, which meant that the Soldiers had to take their efforts to an entirely different level.

Chief Warrant Officer Tollie Yoder, food service officer for Nebraska's maintenance company, said the work actually started at the beginning of the year when the unit decided to compete in the competition.

"When we first talked about competing (the cooks) said 'It would be easy, I cook.' I had to explain to them that it’s more than just cooking… it’s site setup, power plan, field sanitation issues, rodent disposal, sanitary issues, taking care of ration accounting, ration accessibility, ration control, portion control, trash management, water distribution point, and water purification tasks."

Smith agreed, saying the training and preparations made a major impact on the unit’s success.

"When we learned that you have to do more to do it, it was like ‘Alright we can do this.’ Then it became really hard because we realized that we couldn’t do it with just five cooks."

Instead, Smith said, it took the work of the entire unit to help the cooks prepare for the various stages of the competition. That level of support especially came in handy when, the night before the regional competition, a thunderstorm blew in, sending the Soldiers to tornado shelters while it dumped four-and-a-half inches of rain on the training site, flooding the area the mess section had spent days preparing for the competition.

The unit halted training and moved the site to a down range location and completely set up the new site in one day.

"That was very challenging, but they overcame it," Smith said.

This weekend's competition also marked the last time these Soldiers will be together as a team. Two cooks have been transferred to another maintenance company and are preparing for deployment next year, one cook will become a wheeled mechanic to take a position in a detachment closer to home and stay in the unit, and Smith will soon change jobs because of her full-time military position.

Still, that didn’t make the Soldiers work any less hard. In fact, it actually caused them focus that much more on making sure the inspection went well.

"We all knew this was like our like our last hurrah," Smith said, "and the section wanted to do really well. Out of all the cooks I’ve ever worked with, this is probably one of the best because we got along so well. We all hope we will be able to work together in the future."

After completing the inspection, the cooks now are participating in a different type of competition… the waiting game. They should find out how if their work paid off in December when the results are releases. Smith was optimistic.

"I think we set the bar really high. I think the biggest thing is that we couldn’t have gotten this far without the unit’s support and everyone in the cook’s section really, really, really appreciates the help the unit gave us."

Receiving honors

As part of my annual Veteran's Day tribute to U.S. Armed Forces, I'm posting photographs of the cooks and bakers in action this year.

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (8/12/09) -- Pfc. David A. Mantilla, a food service specialist with Headquarters Company, 7th Marine Regiment is recognized by Maj. Gen. Richard P. Mills, commanding general, 1st Marine Division here Aug. 12, for superior performance during the regiment’s pre-deployment training exercise. Mantilla, 24, is from Washington Heights, N.Y.

U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Cpl. Zachary J. Nola.

Standing watch

As part of my annual Veteran's Day tribute to U.S. Armed Forces, I'm posting photographs of the cooks and bakers in action this year.

PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 25, 2009) -- Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Mario M. Evans stands watch at a .50-caliber machine gun station aboard the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) during a transit of the Straits of Malacca.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Brian A. Stone.

Dinner ... or is it supper?

When I sailed into the Korean naval port at Chinhae in 1972, the general mess on the USS Cocopa (ATF 101) served dinner at noon. The cooks, under the able leadership of CS1 George Rooney, prepared supper in the evening, based on naval terminology at the time. Since the late 1970s, the general mess meals have been called breakfast, lunch and dinner, served in that order during the day.

SEA OF JAPAN (Nov. 4, 2009) Culinary Specialist Seaman Alvic Dedios prepares dinner aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46). Tortuga is part of the Denver Amphibious Ready Group participating in the annual bilateral Korean Integrated Training Program exercise.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Geronimo Aquino.

Army field range burner for sale on eBay

I occasionally receive email from readers of this blog who're looking for surplus military field feeding equipment. This burner -- know as the M2A burner unit in military parlance -- is being sold on eBay through its "Buy it Now" feature for $140. The seller has two units for sale.

Seagoing paperwork

Someone has to do the paperwork at sea! Typically, the watch captain, or galley shift leader, records important historical data on the worksheet after each meal. The leading chief culinary specialist uses this information to plan future meals.

PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 28, 2009) -- Culinary Specialist 1st Class Neil Monato verifies figures on a food preparation worksheet while underway aboard the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19).

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Daniel Viramontes.

Phenomenon on the lake

Phenomenon on the lake
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

One Thursday last August, campers at Deer Crossing Camp arose to a strange weather phenomenon on nearby Loon Lake.

A thick layer of fog arose off the south end of the lake and was driven north toward Pleasant Lake by a brisk cold wind.

"This is weird," said Jim Wiltens, Deer Crossing owner and camp director.

"I've never seen this on the lake this late in the season."

The cold front steadily moved in over the lake over the next two hours. The cold air seemed to suck the moisture right out of the warm lake.

With an icy wind that cut right through you, staff and campers quickly domed warmer clothing. The uniform of the day quickly shifted from shorts and T-shirts to long pants and down jackets.

"It's so cold," noted one young camper at the breakfast table. This set the tone for the day.

The instructors scrambled to shift the planned water activities for the day. Extra cold water compromised swimming, kayaking and sailing.

Rain throughout the day drove many campers into the lodge. Instructors fed the woodstove all morning for the first time since the training session in June.

Weird weather for August? Yes, but it was a fun day. We watched the fog, and the rain that soon followed, from the warm comfort of the lodge.

Rebuild or retreat?

By Mike Anderson

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:7-8).

One of the newest additions to the U.S. Naval fleet launched out on its maiden voyage two weeks ago. The U.S.S. New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, left Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's yard in southeastern Louisiana for its official commissioning in New York in November.

While new naval vessels are built and commissioned on a regular basis, this one is different. What sets the U.S.S. New York apart is that 8 tons of steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers was used in its construction. The ship was named to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks of eight years ago.

Following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, about all that remained was mangled and twisted piles of structural steel. Those piles of misshapen metal became a symbol of weakness and vulnerability for our nation.

But now some of that same metal, re-forged and re-formed, becomes a symbol of strength and preparedness. Something useless became something useful. A painful reminder became a motivation for renewed effort.

It is possible that each of us may face times of devastation in our own lives -- times with the potential to leave us standing standing among the twisted wreckage, staring at smoldering piles that once were our personal hoped and dreams.

When such times come, we have a choice to make. We can allow the wreckage of life to become a monument that forever haunts us and reminds us of our defeats and failures or we can take remnants of the wreckage, re-forge them in the furnace of affliction, and use them to rebuild what Satan seeks to permanently destroy.

The time to make the choice is now, before difficult times come. In the heat of the moment, with tears of pain and grief clouding our vision, we may be tempted to give up.

So we must determine now, with God's help, to expose Satan for the terrorist he is and to refuse to allow him to defeat us. May we resolve to rebuild instead of retreat.

Mike preaches for the Placerville Church of Christ, which meets at 4120 Missouri Flat Road, Placerville, California, 95667. He also serves as one of the elders for the congregation.

Armed Forces Recipe Service link

I have repaired the link to the Armed Forces Recipe Service. It seems the U.S. Army plays with the URL every year or so.

The Army IT folks moved the file to a new folder that reflects the new Army food service organization. The organization is now called the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence.

The main AFRS link takes you to a searchable PDF file that's located on the U.S. Army Quartermaster School website.

If you prefer, you can download a ZIP file of the military recipe database. The link takes you to the food service publications page. Click on "Download Recipe Service" and follow the instructions to extract the file.

The Army food service publications webpage also includes a nutritional analysis of recipes in the AFRS.

The AFRS is also available on the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps websites at:

• Marine Corps -- a PDF with a table of contents
• Navy -- note that there's a problem with the Navy's security certificate