Subscribe
KHAN NESHIN DISTRICT, Afghanistan - U.S. Marine Cpl. Kleber Villalva, a section leader with Echo Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, is currently serving his third combat deployment in southern Helmand.
Villalva, a 22-year-old Houston native, has consumed his fair share of Meals Ready-to-Eat during long training exercises and previous deployments to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2010. These packaged meals are a staple in the diet of most Marines and sailors participating in a field operation or serving a combat deployment.
But when he stepped foot here in October 2011, he decided to break from the time-honored diet, and challenge himself to stick to an MRE free selection of food.
“Being on my third deployment, I figured that I was tired of eating just packaged food,” said Villalva. “Sometimes your stomach can get backed up with what they put in the MREs.”
His diet consists of food items sent to him in care packages from his family and his wife, Lauren. Villalva, a 2007 graduate of Cypress Falls High School, has substituted cereal, chicken and tuna from home, for the processed contents of an MRE.
“I did this for the last two months of my last deployment and I liked it,” “said Villalva. “My parents have always sent me a lot of food in the mail. With all the stuff they send me, I can pretty much feed myself out of my bag for the whole deployment.”
“I kind of got everyone else started on it. They’ve been sent freeze-dried foods too,” he added.
Villalva and his platoon maintain a high operational tempo, patrolling through harsh desert terrain and conducting vehicle checkpoints under the glaring sun. They only return to a patrol base every five days to resupply and refuel their vehicles.
“It’s not so bad living out of the back of a vehicle,” said Villalva. “You just bring the essentials that you need, learn how to live small and appreciate the little things.”
At the end of a long day of work, Villalva breaks out his mobile kitchen to prepare a meal for himself and his fellow Marines and sailors.
“It’s nice having warm food,” explained Villalva. “I’ve been using a JetBoil [heater] to heat up the food. I brought about seven cans of it for the deployment so I can heat up the food.”
“My mom sent me a little pot and a bunch of other things, that’s how I made my own little kitchen,” added Villalva.
Villalva carefully lays out his cooking tools on a plywood platform, then lights up his portable gas powered heater and begins a well-practiced routine.
Like a seasoned chef, he carefully garnishes a bowl of plain rice with Chicken of the Sea, a sprinkle of lime flavor and a dash of Adobo seasoning.
“The craziest thing my parents have sent me is pizza crust, pepperoni and cheese…I made some pizza for the guys and it turned out pretty good,” said Villalva.
In no more than 20 minutes, the Houston native has skillfully primed a hearty bowl, ready to be served to his eagerly awaiting brothers-in-arms.
“He’s cooked spam, ramen and chicken bowls for us, made burritos and pizza…our deployment would not have been the same without his kitchen,” said Seaman Matthew Charles Dykes, a corpsman with Echo Company, 1st LAR and 23-year-old native of Paramus, N.J. “His cooking has brought a little slice of home to us.”
Editor’s note: First Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is part of Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division (Forward), which works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
| Date Taken: | 04.30.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.30.2012 06:28 |
| Story ID: | 87582 |
| Location: | KHAN NESHIN DISTRICT, AF |
| Web Views: | 907 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Texas Marine cooks on the go in southern Helmand, by SSgt Alfred V. Lopez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT