Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Bryan Day (center), the food service technical trainer for the III Corps Command...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – Having good cover and concealment is not just for combat arms; it is one of the criteria for the Philip A. Connelly Competition, an annual Army food service competition.
After judging field feeding sites at four installations, including here, III Corps’ food service leaders announced April 13 that 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade won and will represent III Corps at the Army Forces Command-level of the competition this May.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Chontrelle Sturdivant, the 69th ADA Bde.’s food adviser, said she and her team had been preparing since October 2014 for the competition.
In October she requested the land used to set up the field kitchen site.
In November, Sturdivant and her noncommissioned officer counterpart, Sgt. 1st Class Armond Alexander, began choosing who would be on the team for the competition.
Once January arrived, Sturdivant and her team began assessing the site and figuring out where to put the elements of the site, to include the mobile kitchen and dining tent, she said.
As soon as the site was up and running, Sturdivant said the food service specialists focused on food preparation.
“There’s a lot of training involved in the food service realm, so a lot of these field feeding activities actually encompass a lot of training because technique and regulatory guidance for food service operations can be a little particular,” she explained.
On April 9, Bryan Day, the food service technical trainer for the III Corps Command Maintenance Evaluation and Training (COMET) team, and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brock Sanders, the III Corps senior command food adviser, came out to evaluate the site and determine if 69th ADA Bde. would represent III Corps at the FORSCOM-level of the competition.
Day and Sanders received a brief from Alexander and roamed the site judging everything from the dining tent to the administrative aspects.
“When we look at operations, we look for proper food preparation, safe food preparation, sanitation, equipment maintenance and administrative,” Day said.
He also emphasized that all of the training should be done according to regulation.
“If they’re doing everything according to the regulation and according to the recipe cards, and using their (standing operating procedures) and providing a good meal to the Soldiers, that’s the foundation of a winning team,” Day said.
Sanders, who has 24 years in the food service career field, said there are a total of 10 categories that he and the other judges grade, which add up to 1,000 points.
“All of those things are a part of that package that makes up a Philip A. Connelly team that can compete at the highest level,” he said.
The set up for 69th ADA Bde.’s site was outstanding, said Day.
“It’s well organized, it’s clean, and everything is easily accessible,” Day explained. “The Soldiers’ morale and their performance is outstanding.”
Sanders said that while all the teams that competed did well, 69th ADA Bde. earned their win.
“They weren’t selected or chosen,” Sanders said. “They won the competition.”
Sturdivant acknowledged that the competition is won through hard work.
“It’s not something that’s just given to you,” she said. “You have to do the work, and if you are willing to do the work … it’s going to show on the evaluation day.”
Representing not only the installation, but III Corps in the competition is exciting, Sturdivant said.
“I think that this competition is very prestigious amongst the food service community, so whenever you have the opportunity to compete at the (Corps) level, you’re not only representing your unit, but you’re representing that higher echelon organization as well,” she said.
Sanders said he has high hopes for 69th ADA Bde. in the next level of the competition.
“I feel like (69th ADA Bde.) is that team to beat,” he said. “I know they’re going to represent III Corps very well.”
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2015 11:15 |
| Story ID: | 160165 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Hometown: | CINCINNATI, OH, US |
| Hometown: | NEW BOSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 69th ADA to represent III Corps in food service competition, by Kimberly Hackbarth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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