Soldier cooks up morale in Nawa

Photo By Master Sgt. Nathan Hutchison | Army 1st Lt. Mordechai D. Sorkin, 3rd Platoon leader, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division grabs a plate of buffalo chicken, Jan. 14, at Firebase Nawa, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo/Spc. Nathan W. Hutchison)  

AFGHANISTAN

01.25.2008

Courtesy Story

22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

Spc. Nathan W. Hutchison
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FIREBASE NAWA, Afghanistan - Soldiers deployed to the front lines are used to less extravagant food -- like Meals, Ready to Eat -- a high-energy, high-calorie meal with little emphasis on taste.

Spc. Dairo Orozco, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, is the cook for Paratroopers here, but his true skills are underscored by the MREs and Unitized Group Ration meals provided.

"A [UGR] is just precooked stuff you put in boiling water for about 45 minutes to an hour and presto," said Orozco, a 25-year-old Queens, N.Y., native. "You just set it and forget it."

Orozco, called "Roscoe by the Soldiers, arrived at the firebase, located in southern Ghazni, in November.

"I was selected to come out here to do the big Thanksgiving Day meal because the brigade commander and command sergeant major were coming out," Orozco said. "I never got replaced, so I did the same for Christmas and just stuck around."

Even though it's not hard to please a platoon of Paratroopers used to dining on MREs, Orozco has culinary arts in his blood.

"My father and uncle are chefs," Orozco explained. "My father is the food production manager at Gate Gourmet, an airline catering company, and my uncle is an executive chef at Intercontinental Hotels."

While Orozco may not have the facilities to create a gourmet meal, the Soldiers at Nawa appreciated his efforts during the holidays.

"Christmas dinner was great," said Army 1st Lt. Mordechai D. Sorkin, 3rd Platoon leader, Company B, 2nd Bn., 508th PIR. "He's pretty creative; makes due with minimal resources and makes some pretty good stuff."

With UGR as the canvas for a culinary masterpiece, it's usually difficult for Orozco to constantly rise to the challenge.

"Pizza-baked spaghetti is the number one product right now, but not by choice," Orozco said. "One of the better UGR meals is the buffalo chicken and lemon chicken, but most of our food stock consists of pizza bake."

Pizza-bake spaghetti, a meal consisting of meat chunks, noodles and pizza sauce, tops the list of worst entrees according to Orozco, but he tries to make the meals as enjoyable as possible.

"Rosco puts a lot more effort into the food than just dropping it in the water, so we're not really eating the same thing every time," said Spc. Jermey A. Clark, 4th Plt., Co. B, 2nd Bn., 508th PIR. "He's done the best he can with what we have."

Luckily for the Paratroopers in Nawa, Orozco has enough knowledge about the local food and spices to make a meal from scratch.

"Probably about once a week he goes out to get local food and cook it up," Clark said. "He's a real good cook, and I think it helps out a lot with the guys' morale."

Orozco said he had originally joined the Army for culinary arts, but they dropped that Military Occupational Speciality and changed everyone to food operations specialist.

"The Army hasn't been exactly what I was expecting, but it has made me more mature," Orozco explained. "I may not have learned much more about culinary arts than I already knew, but I know I'll make better decisions once I get out because of my training."

• Date Taken: 01.25.2008
• Date Posted: 01.25.2008 07:50
• Story ID: 15772
• Location: AF