Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Eliverto Larios | Soldiers and dining facility attendants from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team/18th Fires...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The sound of a hamburger patty sizzles as it hits the grill, filling the air with the aroma of beef. A hungry Soldier watches as it slowly cooks, turning darker and darker with every flip the cook gives it. A blender can be heard just a few feet away as it liquefies an assortment of fruits, making a batch of juice for another customer. In the center of the room lies the salad bar. Fresh, green lettuce and spinach is tossed into a bowl of other assorted vegetables: A healthy, delicious salad in the making. On the other side of the room, a smile spreads across the face of a young child and his eyes glaze over as he gazes upon the display of assorted desserts. In the next room, Soldiers occupy an array of table and chairs, busy talking and eating their lunches.
Televisions hanging on the walls show the top 10 sports plays of the day and the headline news can be heard throughout the dining area. These are the sights and sounds of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team/18th Fires Brigade Dining Facility (DFAC).
A high volume of customer satisfaction and the dedication of the hard-working food service specialists have made this DFAC a unique place for people to enjoy a meal. Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team and 18th Fires Brigade recently earned Fort Bragg’s Phillip A. Connelly Award for excellence in the preparation and serving of food in their DFAC.
Winners of the installation awards go on to compete in the Department of the Army’s Phillip A. Connelly competition, which ultimately determines the DFAC that shows superiority over all others in the production and distribution of meals. The Army teams up with the International Food Service Executive Association to present the prestigious award to the best DFAC in the entire Army.
There was a considerable amount of work required to enter the competition, but the staff met the challenge with dedication.
“We had to work long hours to prepare the dining facility for the competition,” said Staff Sgt. Calethia Thompson, the floor supervisor for the DFAC. “We knew we were in the competition, we just didn’t know the exact dates.”
Thompson said she had lists of items to go through in preparation for the competition. As the floor manager, she has to ensure the building is cleaned and sanitized everyday. She also makes sure that her cooks have all the equipment needed to perform. Other tasks include making sure her cooks know what meals are going to be prepared and ensuring everything is ready for the following day. However, the competition required the team to go beyond the normal operations of a DFAC.
“Instead of just doing the basics, we went beyond those expectations to make our dining facility look and feel like a five-star restaurant instead of a normal mess hall,” said Sgt 1st Class Lemakius L. Gardner, the DFAC manager.
Citing an example of her philosophy, Gardener stated, “Regulations say you must have a cookie out. Instead of having a plain cookie out we put a cookie out with extra stuff to make it even better.”
On the day of the competition inspection, the number of people who showed up for lunch added to the challenge for the DFAC team.
“The first day it was hectic; there were a lot of people coming in to look at us,” said Spc. Samuel O. Shaheed, a food service specialist with E Company, 37th Engineer Battalion. “There was a lot of pressure to move quick.”
The pressure was something Shaheed said he wasn’t really used to feeling.
“NCOs (noncommissioned officers) pushed us to our limits; it was very difficult as opposed to a normal day,” said Shaheed. “Being held to that standard, to that bar, it was tough.”
Another challenge the crew faced was the limited amount of time they had been operating in the DFAC as a team. The DFAC had only been open for 76 days prior to the start of the competition, having opened in early February, this year.
“We didn’t have to compete because we had just opened,” said Gardner. “We could have said, ‘We’ll try next year.’”
Her ambition and confidence in her soldiers prompted her to ask them if they wanted to participate.
“I’m the type of person who likes to win,” she said. “Any time I step foot into anything I do, I go beyond. I talked to the soldiers and asked them if they wanted to do it and they said, ‘We can try.’ So I went to talk to my boss and he said, ‘Yeah, let's try it.’”
In the end, their hard work and long days paid off for the determined cooks. Discovering that they had won the installation-level competition gave Shaheed some relief.
“We are honored because we all love what we do,” he said. “We practiced hard enough for it.”
Gardner and Thompson said they noticed a change in the morale of the Soldiers since the new DFAC opened. Now with the title of “best dining facility on the installation,” they have seen an even bigger difference.
“Before, we had people come in and try to challenge us, but my Soldiers still would work through the stress, the long hours, and sometimes not getting the recognition,” said Gardner. “They actually like that we are being recognized and that we are on the map.”
On July 9, the command teams of the 2nd BCT and 18th Fires Brigade presented the DFAC Soldiers and dining facility attendants with Army Achievement Medals and Certificates of Appreciation. Thompson said this was the first time that some of the Soldiers have received awards, and she feels it will inspire them to do even better.
As the DFAC manager, Gardner said it makes her happy to see more than 700 patrons at a meal.
“The first thing I do when they open the doors in the morning is look at people's patches to see where they are coming from,” she said. “I’m like, wow, these aren’t even people from my unit.”
The work is far from over for the DFAC. In December, they will compete for the best dining facility in the Army. hey do not plan on simply settling with what has made them successful so far.
“My idea now is to focus on what our flaws were the first time,” said Shaheed. “We just have to be very consistent on what we do and manage our time.”
Keeping the Soldiers informed and ready is the focus now for the floor manager. At any given time, a Soldier could have to cover another’s responsibilities.
“Every soldier in this building, even if they’re not on the team, needs to know what to do,” said Thompson. “In case we have to pull one out, another Soldier can … fill in and know the same standards.”
Gardner said her goal is to find ways to keep morale high as the team heads into the next level of the competition and longer work-days lay inevitability ahead. With a monthlong Joint Readiness Training Center rotation later this fall, the team will be left with only a month to prepare for the Army-wide competition. She has confidence in her team however, and is optimistic that they will perform well.
“It’s a bump in the road, a couple of curves, and a couple of walls we might have to climb over, but nothing hard enough that we can’t do,” she said. “We are going to come back and get right back in the fight.”
Thompson shares the DFAC manager’s faith.
“They know that they are going to have to work a lot harder and longer but they’re ready,” she said. “They’re a competitive group; they’re ready to go to the next level.”
| Date Taken: | 07.30.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.30.2014 17:00 |
| Story ID: | 137757 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 686 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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