Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Deborah Runkles-Jenkins | Army Reserve Sgt. Daniela Guerra, culinary management noncommissioned officer with the...... read more read more
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Everyone has problems and hurdles throughout their lives. How each individual faces, tackles, and overcomes these challenges makes all the difference. For one Army Reserve Citizen-Soldier, “challenge” seems to be her middle name.
Sgt. Daniela Guerra was born in Tijuana, Mexico. Her family moved to California when she was 7 years old, establishing residency in Ventura. By age 15, she was pregnant with her first baby boy, Oscar, and by 19, she had her second child, Naomi. The children’s father was part of the family for seven years before he and Guerra decided to go their separate ways. Guerra worked two jobs and did odd jobs on the side, but she dreamed of furthering her education and wanted more for her kids.
In 2008, at age 23, Guerra enlisted in the Army Reserve as a food service specialist. She knew about the education benefits the Reserve offered and that being a part-time Soldier would still give her time with her family.
Her first assignment was the 420th Movement Control Battalion in Sherman Oaks, California. While there, she applied for U.S. citizenship through a special provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that expedites the application and naturalization process for U.S. military members, current or recently discharged.
“I will never forget, it was 1st Sgt. Christina Fowler who pulled me aside and made me focus specifically on getting it,” said Guerra. “It was her who pushed me for 3 months, and she got me through it. I was so grateful.”
In 2011, Guerra deployed with her unit to Kuwait. As a junior Soldier in a stressful environment, she was worried for her children and of what war could do to her.
“I was assigned to a cool job, working in transportation logistics and operations; completely different from being a cook,” said Guerra. “I was thankful to be able to learn something new and work with the Kuwaitis. It was just awesome and made the time go by fast.”
Soon after she returned home in 2012, Guerra was promoted to the rank of sergeant.
With the promotion, Guerra transferred to her current assignment, as the Culinary Management Noncommissioned Officer, 387th Quartermaster Company (Mortuary Affairs), in a position two pay grades above her own with the expectations that come with years on the job as a leader, which she did not have.
Guerra accepted the job without hesitation.
“I feel proud to be in this position, to be doing my job the way I should be, only as [a Sgt. 1st Class],” Guerra said. “I feel pretty proud of myself!”
Guerra and her team of culinary specialists participated in the 48th Annual Philip A. Connelly Awards Program for Excellence in Food Service competition in the Field Kitchen category. The Program is the Army’s top cooking competition in which participants compete with other units Army-wide (Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard) and are evaluated in areas that include food preparation, taste, nutrition, service, and sanitation.
The competition was new to Guerra, who had worked on catering and personnel count in previous assignments. She led her team to become one of only 10 Army Reserve units with a chance to qualify at the Department of the Army level.
First Lt. Daria Mediano, company commander of the 387th, was excited for Guerra and the culinary team.
“I wanted to make it a priority to have them participate,” said Mediano, from Fremont, California. “Since Guerra is an E5 in an E7 position, I wanted her to have as much experience as possible. That’s why this is so exciting for me, because she has gotten so much experience.”
Company 1st Sgt. Cameryn Loggins, from Inglewood, California, shared in her commander’s enthusiasm.
“Sgt. Guerra stands out, hands down,” said Loggins. “She has gone above and beyond, dedicated extra time and sacrificed school. She is dedicated to the mission and I have nothing but great things and kudos to give to her and her team.”
Guerra had only five months to prepare the field kitchen, sanitation, and dining stations to the standards of current Army regulations, when most competitors anticipate the competition and are continually preparing for it.
She was concurrently a full time college student working towards a nursing degree at Ventura College with her Post 9/11 GI Bill and caring for her now 14 and 11 year old children. Guerra was also pregnant with her third child.
“I just had the normal pregnancy challenges; swollen ankles and no heavy lifting,” Guerra said. “But my team was amazing. They work well together. They communicate and look out for each other. That’s really how we have accomplished all this,” she said, humbly.
Guerra was eight and a half months pregnant at the team’s final dry run practice. On the day of competition, her new son, Noah, was one day shy of two months old.
“I wanted to be a good leader for the team and make sure they were prepared,” she admitted. “I needed them to have confidence in me as a leader since this was my first time doing something like this.”
Spc. George Zepeda, a lead cook on the team and culinary specialist with the 387th with more field cooking experience than Guerra, said his leader shined in many areas.
“She did an exceptional job in her leadership role and responsibilities because she knows the regulations on how field operations work,” said Zepeda, from North Hollywood, California. “She relied on her senior cooks to be there for her and we were.”
Zepeda admitted he and the team did not know if Guerra would be at the competition due to her pregnancy, but was glad to see their section leader on that day and did their very best to support her.
Guerra shows appreciation for the challenges and opportunities in her life, which has made the difference for her. She said she has always known what she had to do as a single mom, student, Soldier and leader, and just did it.
| Date Taken: | 07.29.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2015 13:34 |
| Story ID: | 171427 |
| Location: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Hometown: | FREMONT, CA, US |
| Hometown: | INGLEWOOD, CA, US |
| Hometown: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Hometown: | LOS ANGELES, CA, US |
| Hometown: | NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA, US |
| Hometown: | RIVERSIDE, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SHERMAN OAKS, CA, US |
| Hometown: | VENTURA, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 244 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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