Something big is cooking with the Georgia Air National Guard

Photo By Roger Parsons | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Deatrice Rudolph, 116th Services Flight, Georgia Air National Guard, cooks peppers on the grill for Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC), Gulfport, Miss., Nov. 18, 2015. Rudolph and a team of five additional citizen Airmen from the Georgia unit deployed to the CRTC to provide food service for the Force Support Leadership Development Conference. The team from Georgia joined services personnel from the 186th Air Refueling Wing, Meridian, Miss., to provide two meals a day to more than 400 people. The event also provided the opportunity for the Georgia Guard unit to cook from and showcase their Disaster Relief Mobile Kitchen Trailer (DRMKT). Leaders attending the event were able to see first hand the benefits of the DRMKT in the hands of trained Airmen. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Roger Parsons/Released)  

GULFPORT AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MS, UNITED STATES

11.19.2015

Story by Senior Master Sgt. Roger Parsons 

116th Air Control Wing

GULFPORT, Miss.—When disaster strikes, the Air National Guard stands ready to provide well-trained, well-equipped units available for prompt mobilization.

During this year’s Force Support Leadership Development conference at the Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, food service specialists from the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th Air Control Wing showcased their ability to respond to contingencies in short order.

“We deployed six Airmen to the event, providing two meals a day to more than 400 people,” said Master Sgt. Terrence Woods, non-commissioned officer in charge of food services for the Georgia unit.

“Like deploying to a forward location in a crisis, we quickly set up food operations and fed hundreds of people from both a permanent dining facility and our Disaster Relief Mobile Kitchen Trailer.”

For leaders attending the conference from across the U.S., watching the Georgia Guard members prepare hot meals from the Disaster Relief Mobile Kitchen Trailer, or DRMKT, offered the opportunity to see first hand the benefits of a tool like this in the hands of trained Airmen.

“We work next to our services brothers and hear about this wonderful apparatus all the time, but this is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to see it in action and see what it can do,” said Chief Master Sgt. Clark Guy, Air National Guard personnel career field functional manager. “We have almost 400 people sitting here today and we just fed them in no time and the food was absolutely delicious. This thing is so impressive. I want one myself.”

The free-standing mobile kitchen; similar to a concession trailer you would see at many public events, is designed for fast setup and shutdown, comes ready for rapid transport aboard a C-130 and is built to be pulled with a standard heavy-duty pickup.

“The DRMKT provides additional capabilities for our unit to respond to multiple scenarios in our region,” said Woods. “In our region where hurricanes are common or with manmade events like we’ve seen with the recent attacks in Paris, readiness is a requirement not an option.”

According Woods, they can feed hot meals to more than 1,000 people in less than 90 minutes, nearly a 50 percent increase in efficiency over previous methods.

“During disaster situations this gives us a tremendous capability to provide nourishment to first responders and help restore quality of life to an area,” said Woods.

• Date Taken: 11.19.2015
• Date Posted: 11.19.2015 12:54
• Story ID: 182352
• Location: GULFPORT AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MS, US