Photo By Sgt. April York | Sgt. Wesley Holder, a cook with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd...... read more read more
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – During deployment the key to a happy soldier is a well fed soldier. The soldiers of Area Control Station 4 are very happy due to the efforts of their cooks Sgt. Wesley Holder and Pfc. Randy Smiley, both with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
“Being a part of food service, people will say it’s the food you prepare that puts a smile on the soldiers’ faces,” Holder said. “For me and my soldier, the soldiers are a big part of our morale and well being.”
Holder and Smiley serve about 100 soldiers daily.
When Holder and the soldiers from Troop A arrived at ACS4 they decided to change the dining ambiance.
“I like a home-type atmosphere,” said Holder. “So 1st Sgt. [Alex] Garcia and I walked around the area and we found two trailers sitting on-top of one another. It turns out that one of those trailers was a kitchen that ran off of 220 [watt] power. We set the trailers side-by-side, turned one into a sanitation trailer and turned the other one into a kitchen.”
“We started this process the day before Thanksgiving,” Holder said. “We gutted everything out of the trailer and we took all the equipment out of the [mobile kitchen trailer] and put it inside the kitchen trailer.”
The kitchen runs efficiently and most soldiers enjoy the set up.
“We set it up like a drive-thru,” Holder said. “We put up a menu and the soldiers come up to order breakfast, lunch and dinner. They tell us what they want and we prepare it right there, hot off the grill.”
“The best part of my job is when the soldiers come back to tell you how much they enjoyed the meal you made them,” Smiley said.
Being a cook in a location like ACS4 can be challenging because supplies and variety of food choices can be limited.
“Out here we just go with what we got,” Smiley said. “We just put a lot of different stuff together. This makes it more fun because you get to do what you want to do.”
Being in charge also gives them the opportunity to be customer friendly.
“When the soldiers come off of guard and there is hot soup and coffee waiting for them and they come out the next morning and say ‘Sgt. Holder that hot soup and coffee really did it for me’ that boosts my spirit,” Holder said.
Sometimes being a cook can be a thankless job with long hours.
“I wake up at [4 a.m.] and begin preparing breakfast, which is served between [7 a.m. and 9 a.m.], Smiley said. “Then I clean up and prepare for lunch which is served from [11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.] After I clean up lunch then I prepare and serve dinner from [5 p.m. to 7 p.m.],”
Even though the hours are long and most of the time is spent standing, Smiley loves his job.
“There isn’t anything I don’t like about my job,” he said.
Getting a chance to know the soldiers on an individual level makes cooking in the field a more personable experience.
“In the field environment you are with the soldiers 365 days and you get to know these soldiers and find out what they like and what they don’t like,” Holder said. “You become a family.”
On Friday nights Holder and Smiley try to make sure their soldiers get a big meal.
“If you ask the soldiers they would say some of their favorite meals are the chicken and cheeseburger spaghetti, cheeseburger bacon macaroni and my tamale pie,” Holder said. “The greatest part of cooking is using your imagination. If you have a good imagination you can cook anything.”
| Date Taken: | 02.19.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2012 05:55 |
| Story ID: | 84067 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR, AF |
| Web Views: | 180 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Reaching out to soldiers with a touch of imagination, by SGT April York, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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