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CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines – On average, a person can survive approximately three days without water and three weeks without food, but very little of that time,if any, would be pleasant.
However, for the U.S. service members enduring the heat and long days of exercise Balikatan 2015, the need for both food and water is unparalleled for mission success. That’s where the 10 Airmen running the BK15 temporary dining facility come into play.
“Our job is to provide nutrients to give them the energy to complete their mission,” said U.S. Airman 1st Class Myeisha Smith, BK15 services journeyman from the 18th Force Support Squadron. “They always seem appreciative. It makes my day to see how happy they are to get food.”
The exercise kicked off April 20, but the DFAC Airmen had the facility up and running by April 13 for participants who arrived early to prepare the base for the exercise. However, when the first three arrived April 8, there wasn’t much to work with.
“The most difficult part was waiting on our equipment. Our rations were here, but our kitchen equipment wasn’t here, all we had were the shelves,” said Staff Sgt. Sergio Lopez, evening shift lead for the DFAC. “We watched the two main tents get set up by contractors, but we set up the temper tent out front, and we set up everything inside.”
When the DFAC first opened, roughly 25 service members used its lunchtime resources, but that number skyrocketed to more than 100 within a couple of days. At its peak, nearly 250 patrons filed through the lines.
“Right now our biggest consumer is the Air Force,” Lopez said. “The most at lunch is around 250, but at dinner it was about 190.”
It may seem fairly standard, but this operation is unique from most other Air Force- DFACs around the world.
Lopez, who hails from the 554th REDHORSE Squadron at Andersen Air Base, Guam, said most locations have established long-term DFACs by now, meaning very few places have the need for tent-based food services.
In a location where most water isn’t potable, it’s that much more important to ensure the food is prepared safely.
“Most of the time now when you deploy, you go to a location where everything’s already set up,” Lopez said. “We can’t use the water as it is. We have to use bottles of water for washing fruits and vegetables.”
Whether they’re chopping vegetables for a salad or handing out meals ready to eat for service members leaving for missions, the Clark AB temporary DFAC provides an invaluable service to the participants of BK15.
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.30.2015 22:02 |
| Story ID: | 161867 |
| Location: | CLARK AIR BASE, PH |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Dining facility Airmen feed the beast, by TSgt Maeson Elleman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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