FORT A.P. HILL, Va. - He has consulted for big businesses, owned several successful restaurants, won many domestic, national and international level cooking competitions, and even served in the White House, but for Chief Warrant Officer 2 Danny Wolf his true love was to once again be a Soldier.
Wolf, the food program manager for the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command and a native of Wood Dale, Illinois, first joined the Army in 1976, where he found his life’s calling…cooking.
“The Army taught me to cook and I won my first cooking competition as a young Private First Class while I was in Germany,” he said. “The Stars and Stripes did a big story on that; an American that not only competed in a European competition but won it as well.”
After displaying impressive cooking talent in the competition, Wolf became noticed and was soon after asked to be a general’s aide.
“They sent me to French cuisine school, ice sculpting school, baking school, cake decorating school, pasta school, and of course…bartending school,” he said. “What was really unique about the mission was the general was slated to go into rotation at the White House and he took me with him.”
The timing of Wolf’s White House assignment came at a crucial time, the presidential inauguration of former President Ronald Reagan. Wolf helped plan the meals and presentation for the inauguration and again his skills impressed his superiors so much they asked him to stay.
His job at the White House was cooking for military VIPs. Although the Secret Service and White House cooks cared for and cooked for the president, anytime there were military VIPs, Wolf and his team would take center stage.
“Some of the VIPs I worked with were foreign dignitaries,” he said. “Most of them were military members, either foreign or American.”
After a few years of working at the White House his Army enlistment came to an end. Wolf decided not to reenlist and left his Army roots behind him.
But his successes in the Army went with him into the civilian world. “I opened a restaurant which was very successful, and before long it turned into a few more restaurants,” he said. “Business was going very well.”
Business was going so well in fact that an investor took notice of its success and made him an offer for his restaurants that he just couldn’t refuse.
“It was a great offer, I couldn’t say no,” he said. “Once that deal was closed, I didn’t do too much work for a while, but eventually began some consulting for restaurant businesses.”
Wolf’s success in the restaurant and food industry gave him an edge on the market and gave businesses owners a demand for his invaluable services.
His consulting business ranged from helping to make mouth-watering pizza recipes to assisting businesses improve customer service. But he always continued cooking.
“I was the first American to win a pizza making competition in Italy,” he said. Of course that win created a high-demand for his award-winning recipe.
Years later, Wolf found himself consulting at the Pentagon on 9/11 when the terrorist attack that shook America to its core happened.
That act of terror reignited a flame in Wolf to answer the call of his country once again.
“It was time to get back in,” he said. “I told my wife that my goal was to serve in the Army once again.”
Getting back into the Army proved to be a very difficult challenge for Wolf. He was no longer a typical young fit Soldier; he was over 100 pounds overweight and over 50 years old.
“I wanted to serve and I did what it took,” Wolf said. “I lost over a hundred pounds and worked out. It wasn’t easy, but it’s what I wanted to do.”
After losing the weight and meeting the Army standards, he was given a presidential letter of recommendation, and shortly thereafter put on the Soldier uniform once again.
Wolf is currently training and supervising Army cooks at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia where his unit is providing meal support for Nationwide Move 15.
Nationwide Move 15 is an annual Army Reserve approved functional training exercise designed to provide Reserve Component transportation units with valuable, realistic training by conducting real-world operations in support of Continental United States activities.
Wolf seems happy to be back in uniform and back to doing what he started almost 40 years ago. He plans to stay in the Army as long as possible and continue to do the two things he loves; cook and be a Soldier.
| Date Taken: | 01.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.21.2015 14:06 |
| Story ID: | 152391 |
| Location: | FORT A.P. HILL, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 201 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Soldier returns to his roots, by SSG Jonathan Fernandez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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