- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 360
From the Army Times.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-1982447.php
Hail to the chef
Cooks’ extra efforts add a touch of garnish to remote combat tour
By Lincoln Montgomery-Rodgers
I am an infantryman and fall victim to the traditional vice of feeling that my branch is better than the rest. From basic training onward, I’ve had the innate belief that infantrymen are superior to all other combat arms and far above lowly support branches. We’re the “queen of battle,” the tip of the spear, the bullet stoppers who go where no one else will and do the dirty work of war.
Most of the support branches seemed like civilian jobs with uniforms. Regular hours, little or no time spent in the field, useful civilian skills; who wouldn’t want all that and a sure-fire paycheck? I always thought most of those jobs could be privatized with little or no damage to the Army.
Take cooks for instance: Modern Army dining facilities run like large cafeterias anywhere. A brigade chow hall and a university cafeteria are very similar. Why not just hire civilians to administer them? It would save the Army the money and expense of recruiting and training cooks. Plus, if the service was poor, the contractors easily could be replaced.
At least that’s how it seemed to me until my last deployment.
I was part of a company team sent to a remote region of Afghanistan. We had to build our forward operating base from scratch, so the first few days found us sleeping in a barren field. Imagine our surprise to find hot chow arriving with some of our supply convoys.
Three of our six cooks had been left at a nearby base and had agreed to work in the dining facility if they could send food down to us when possible. No one had told them to do this, and none of us expected hot meals under those conditions. They had taken the initiative completely on their own to keep us well-fed.
When the food supplies started arriving, we discovered our cooks had outdone themselves again. Containers full of snacks, drinks and frozen foods began to show up daily. Rather than waiting until they had a working kitchen and could prepare full menu meals, the cooks started issuing as much food as they could.
Breakfast was now an MRE with cereal and milk. Lunch and dinner had soda, chips and energy bars to go with them. We had no access to the local economy, so the only food we ate was what the cooks gave us.
Having chips and a soda to go with your meal might not sound like much, but anyone who has eaten MREs for days on end can verify that it makes a world of difference in taste.
When we finally received a field kitchen, it was too damaged to use, but the cooks raided it for burners and set up a kitchen in a 20-foot shipping container.
That night, we had steak and lobster. Tents still had not arrived. We had no showers, no mail delivery. We were still living in a field with a berm and a few strands of wire. But the cooks had hot dinners for us every night. It was incredible, far beyond what any of us expected.
Once we were settled into more permanent accommodations, they continued to outdo themselves. A field-expedient grill was soon carved out of a 50-gallon drum, and we had grilled cheeseburgers. Before and after multiday missions, the cooks would make special meals for the men going on patrol. The food they made was superb and all the more impressive considering the conditions under which they cooked.
Then one night, we were attacked. The cooks responded with a speed and organization that would make any infantry squad proud, manning fighting positions for most of the night. No one expected a hot breakfast the next morning, but there it was, waiting when we all woke up.
Are cooks really necessary in garrison? Maybe not. Perhaps they could be replaced by civilians. They could certainly use more civilian help.
But on deployments, they are indispensable. Having good food and having it on a regular basis is a tremendous benefit to morale and there is no way to do that with civilian contractors. The cooks that deployed with my company went above and beyond their duties.
The writer is a former infantry staff sergeant whose assignments included the 25th Infantry Division, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and the 82nd Airborne Division.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-1982447.php
Hail to the chef
Cooks’ extra efforts add a touch of garnish to remote combat tour
By Lincoln Montgomery-Rodgers
I am an infantryman and fall victim to the traditional vice of feeling that my branch is better than the rest. From basic training onward, I’ve had the innate belief that infantrymen are superior to all other combat arms and far above lowly support branches. We’re the “queen of battle,” the tip of the spear, the bullet stoppers who go where no one else will and do the dirty work of war.
Most of the support branches seemed like civilian jobs with uniforms. Regular hours, little or no time spent in the field, useful civilian skills; who wouldn’t want all that and a sure-fire paycheck? I always thought most of those jobs could be privatized with little or no damage to the Army.
Take cooks for instance: Modern Army dining facilities run like large cafeterias anywhere. A brigade chow hall and a university cafeteria are very similar. Why not just hire civilians to administer them? It would save the Army the money and expense of recruiting and training cooks. Plus, if the service was poor, the contractors easily could be replaced.
At least that’s how it seemed to me until my last deployment.
I was part of a company team sent to a remote region of Afghanistan. We had to build our forward operating base from scratch, so the first few days found us sleeping in a barren field. Imagine our surprise to find hot chow arriving with some of our supply convoys.
Three of our six cooks had been left at a nearby base and had agreed to work in the dining facility if they could send food down to us when possible. No one had told them to do this, and none of us expected hot meals under those conditions. They had taken the initiative completely on their own to keep us well-fed.
When the food supplies started arriving, we discovered our cooks had outdone themselves again. Containers full of snacks, drinks and frozen foods began to show up daily. Rather than waiting until they had a working kitchen and could prepare full menu meals, the cooks started issuing as much food as they could.
Breakfast was now an MRE with cereal and milk. Lunch and dinner had soda, chips and energy bars to go with them. We had no access to the local economy, so the only food we ate was what the cooks gave us.
Having chips and a soda to go with your meal might not sound like much, but anyone who has eaten MREs for days on end can verify that it makes a world of difference in taste.
When we finally received a field kitchen, it was too damaged to use, but the cooks raided it for burners and set up a kitchen in a 20-foot shipping container.
That night, we had steak and lobster. Tents still had not arrived. We had no showers, no mail delivery. We were still living in a field with a berm and a few strands of wire. But the cooks had hot dinners for us every night. It was incredible, far beyond what any of us expected.
Once we were settled into more permanent accommodations, they continued to outdo themselves. A field-expedient grill was soon carved out of a 50-gallon drum, and we had grilled cheeseburgers. Before and after multiday missions, the cooks would make special meals for the men going on patrol. The food they made was superb and all the more impressive considering the conditions under which they cooked.
Then one night, we were attacked. The cooks responded with a speed and organization that would make any infantry squad proud, manning fighting positions for most of the night. No one expected a hot breakfast the next morning, but there it was, waiting when we all woke up.
Are cooks really necessary in garrison? Maybe not. Perhaps they could be replaced by civilians. They could certainly use more civilian help.
But on deployments, they are indispensable. Having good food and having it on a regular basis is a tremendous benefit to morale and there is no way to do that with civilian contractors. The cooks that deployed with my company went above and beyond their duties.
The writer is a former infantry staff sergeant whose assignments included the 25th Infantry Division, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and the 82nd Airborne Division.
